Play Along
by Perserverance
Summary: If I tell you I'm strong, will you play along? Or will you see I'm as insecure as everyone else? Lightning x Hope, AU, First fic, Post story line.
1. Surprises

Summary: _If I tell you I'm strong, will you play along? Or will you see I'm as insecure as everyone else?_

**Hey guys, this is my first fic, which is going to be a LightningxHope Fic. Yes, I know, the summary is some lyrics from a song by the Dave Matthews Band, but that's beside the point. I will likely be writing other stories with this couple in the future as well as well as maybe a CloudxTifa fic somewhere in the future.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of this. It all belongs to Square Enix and company.**

* * *

Hope Estheim ran his fingers through his hair as he walked down the side walk. He was headed to Lebreau's bar for the obvious, a drink. Hope was twenty now. It's been six years now since he came out of crystal stasis, and oddly enough, he was the only one to come out of crystal stasis at the time. He was much taller now, at least five feet, ten inches. His build was also much more muscular now. He was no longer a scrawny teenager, more rather a full blown adult, he had Snow to thank for part of that. Hope wore a black T-shirt with a pair of simple jeans. He had chosen to abandon the old look, as he eventually found it looked rather childish. The only thing he still kept was the turquoise bandana that he always wore around his neck. It was no longer worn around his neck, rather it was now tied around his right forearm.

Hope walked into Lebreau's bar and took a seat at one of the stools.

"Heya Hope, what can I get you?" Lebreau said as she casually walked up to the silver haired b—no, man.

"Something not too heavy this time, I'm not looking forward to another hangover." He replied, earning a hearty chuckle out of the bartender as she began prepping a drink for her customer.

It was right around one o'clock, so her bar wasn't too particularly busy. Hope preferred to come in during those hours, for the sake of actually being able to talk to Lebreau. The two had become close friends over the past year, especially seeing as Hope found himself coming to her bar much more often now.

Of course, Hope still kept in touch with his other friends for the most part. Serah and Snow came out of crystal stasis roughly a month after he did, followed by Sazh and Dajh four months after that. The only person that remained was Lightning. Oddly enough, she remained in crystal stasis for an incredibly long time after the other ex-L'Cie had come out of their crystal slumber. It wasn't until four whole years that she finally came out of crystal stasis. Serah and Snow had tried their best to hold out on having their wedding for when Lightning actually did come out of crystal stasis, but it wasn't in the best interest of the budding community that was New Bodhum for them to hold out.

Time and time again, Hope would drop on the newly wedded couple to congratulate them and give them their presents that he had gotten for them. Nowadays, Hope wished that he actually had time AWAY from Snow, seeing as Hope and Snow were elected the region explorers by the town council. They knew of Hope and Snow's previous adventures in the region and couldn't find anyone better to explore the areas surrounding for resources and potential dangers. Despite this, Snow and Serah had managed to have a little one of their own, Jade Villiers, whom of which was almost two years old now.

Sazh had taken up a job transporting supplies from one settlement to another, but still, his residence still resides in New Bodhum and he would occasionally take time off to accompany Hope and Snow on their various adventures around Pulse.

Lightning was a different story. About eight months after coming out of crystal stasis, she was tasked by the council to train new soldiers up to assist what little forces they already had in defending the settlement from feral creatures, namely, the Gorgonopsids. They would occasionally swoop in and attack the now medium sized settlement in pure spite of the fact that their territory was overrun by humans. Despite this, Serah and the others still attempted to try to get her to spend more time with the group, instead of mindlessly working away at her job.

This especially bugged Hope.

Hope had done everything he could to try to get the woman to spend more time with everyone. He had held parties, cook-outs—hell he even tried to bribe her with upgrading her gunblade to a better model. None of it worked. She would always give the same reply. "I'm too busy and everyone needs me to be strong and help the settlement," she would always say to him. It wasn't until two years ago he finally had it with her, on the day of Jade's first birthday.

* * *

_Flashback_

_Two years ago._

"_Hey Light, we're having a cookout at Sazh's place for Jade's first birthday and Serah really wants you to come!" Hope nearly shouted as he caught up to the soldier leaving her house._

"_I'm sorry, Hope, I really don't have time, I have a fresh batch of recruits that the council wants battle ready in two months." Lightning said flatly as she lazily looked at Hope. Hope could've sworn her eyes could burn holes into him at this point._

"_But Light, Serah was really hoping you could show up to this, especially since you weren't out of crystal stasis for their wedding, it would mean a lot to her if you went," Hope pleaded with his best puppy-dog eye look that he could give._

_Lightning looked away and shook her head before mumbling something along the lines of "I'm sorry Hope." With that, she turned and walked away._

'_What the hell?' Hope angrily thought to himself before jogging to try to catch up to Lightning._

"_So you're seriously not going to go?" Hope asked with a serious look, hoping she would at least turn around and reconsider. Much to his discontent, she only turned her head a bit to look back at him._

"_I just can't right now, Hope. I have to go now." Lightning hurriedly said._

"_Fine, goodbye, Lightning."_

* * *

Hope was broken out of his musing of the past by a hand being waved in his face, said hand belonging to that of Yuj.

"What's wrong, Hope? Still down about Lightning? I figured you'd be over her by now, man," Yuj said patting a hand on Hope's back.

"Back off, Yuj. You damn well know not to talk about that!" Hope scolded his blue haired companion before looking back down at the slightly clearish-reddish beverage he had in front of him.

"Sorry Hope, I was just trying to lighten the mood a bit, you seem extra down today,"

It was true, today he hadn't exactly been having the most wonderful day. First, he forgot to buy more coffee, so he was already grouchy from that. On top of that, he received a call informing him that he and Snow would be venturing out to Valis Media, then to the Yaschas Massif, to check for any sort of resources in that area in a few days. He hated the Yaschas Massif for the fact that many of its known creatures used ambush tactics to subdue their prey, rather than just brute force.

He was brought out of his brooding by the beeping of his cell phone, which he swiftly pulled out of his pocket and answered.

"Hope Estheim speaking,"

"Hey Hope! It's Serah, Snow told me about where you guys were headed here soon," Hope could only smile. Serah had always supported Hope and Snow in their adventures, and had once ventured with them to the Central Expanse of the Archylte Steppe, which was a fairly safe trip in itself.

"Yeah, I'm not particularly excited about it, but it is what it is,"

"Well, if anything, this should help, I just got off the phone with Sazh and he has agreed to tag along with you guys,"

"I hope you're not pulling my leg here Serah, I put up with Snow's bad jokes enough as it is"

He could've sworn he heard her scoff, but dismissed the thought.

"I'm not joking, promise! Oh, and you should really give Lightning a call, she wants to catch up."

Silence. Dead silence. It seemed to last forever.

"Oh… Alright Serah… Thanks… I will."

"Alright Hope, see ya around then!"

With that, he snapped his phone shut. Lightning? Wanted to catch up? This had to be a joke. There was no way it wasn't. He hadn't spoken to her in nearly two years. At least, not a full conversation. There would be the occasional greeting as they passed by in the neighborhood, as everyone lived relatively close together, but no real conversations.

Hope shook his head before knocking back the rest of his drink and reaching into his wallet to give Lebreau the correct amount of money to cover his drink. Much to his surprise, she stopped him and shook her head.

"Don't worry about the cost Hope, this one's on the house. You looked like you could really use it."

Hope flashed Lebreau a grateful smile before returning his wallet to his pocket. He thanked Lebreau and left the bar. He almost had no intention of following through on calling the person on his mind.

Almost.

He stopped out in front of his house before reaching into his pocket and retrieving his phone. He clicked around into his contacts and scrolled down until he reached the number he was looking for.

_Light 789-3402_

Hope closed his eyes and took a deep breath before slowly moving his thumb over the 'call' button. He nearly jumped out of his shoes when his phone began beeping.

He nearly did a double take when he read the caller ID. It read:

_Incoming call_

_Light 789-3402_

He chuckled inwardly. _'Looks like she beat me to it, Serah.' _ Hope thought to himself as he pressed 'accept call'

"Hope Estheim speaking,"

"Hope? It's Lightning… Um…" There was a slight pause before she seemed to find the correct words. "I know it's a bit sudden, but I was wondering if you wanted to maybe catch up later?"

Hope couldn't believe his ears. After shooing off every attempt to try to get her to at least hang out with everyone, two and a half years later, she suddenly decides she wants to "catch up"? Normally, Hope would've been enraged, but at this point, he didn't really have the energy to think up some long drawn out argument as to why she suddenly decides she wants to start communicating.

"Sure, I guess. When?"

"Tomorrow at three sound good? That's right around when I get off of work."

To Hope, she almost sounded relieved. Maybe she felt bad? Maybe it was some sort of plan to draw him into the work force?

'_Okay, Hope, you're not being rational here…' _

"Sounds good to me, see you then." Hope closed his phone shut and sighed. He didn't know whether he should be excited or angry. Part of him was jumping for joy and calling it a date, seeing as he had feelings for her for quite some time. The other part of him was confused, angry, and a bit upset. Why would she suddenly do this? It didn't make any sense to him. He quickly dismissed the thought as he stepped into his house and kicked his shoes off before lazily wandering into his room to retire for the day. He was going to need a nice long vacation in the near future before he went insane. It was only nine at night and the Estheim usually stayed up until around eleven or midnight, but he had been through enough already for one day.

* * *

**Please Review! Don't be afraid to give me some constructive criticism! I'm new at this and could definitely use all the help I can get! :D**


	2. Apologies

**Hey guys! I'm back already! My mind is absolutely loaded with ideas, so expect me to update often. I was quite surprised (and pleased) with the quick feedback you guys gave me from the first chapter, and have decided to award you all with a quick update.**

**As for the people that have reviewed so far:**

**Electronic-Star - Please check your private messages if you haven't already, I replied to your review there! :D**

**Revan Farron - Thank you! I try my best to make sure that my writing is readable to everyone, while still using a plethora of terms. As for the HopexLight pairing, I find it hard to write this couple when Hope is still a teenager, so I aged him a bit. :D**

**resistance123 - Indeed she is, or is she? ^_^**

**That One Reviewee - Hope doesn't necessarily HATE Lightning, more rather, he's mad at her. I'm flattered that you think my story is good so far, so thank you, thank you, and thank you!**

**The Light to All Fears – Believe me, I have that same feeling too sometimes. The get together may not happen for a few chapters. Or maybe this chapter. Or maybe never… We'll see :D**

**Disclaimer: I totally own all of this. *looks over at Nomura* Ehhhh… *sigh* I do NOT own any of this, everything belongs to Square Enix and company.**

* * *

Lightning Farron hadn't much expected the answer she received from Hope. She more so expected an "absolutely not" followed by a "why the hell would I want to talk to you". She felt a pang of guilt in her chest for having the thought. She should've known that no matter how much Hope might hate her (if at all) he would still be willing to set things straight.

Lightning opened the door to her house and peeled her boots off. It had been yet another long day of training the potential soldiers, but after putting up with them for nearly ten months, the council deemed them battle ready.

Lately, she had been communicating with Serah… well being forced to communicate by Serah. Needless to say, she was quite angry with Lightning, but as always, she forgave her older… well… younger/older sister. Lightning was only twenty three, while Serah was now twenty four.

Regardless, Lightning felt awful. After many long conversations with her sister, it hit her like a ton of bricks. She had completely shunned out everyone that held her close, including that of her sister and even Hope. She was already aware of Hope's strong feelings for her, but never really brought herself to think that he viewed her in a romantic way. Yet, still, Hope was one of her best friends and she had even pushed him away.

She had vowed in her last conversation to try to fix everything with everybody and start spending more time with her friends and family. She had easily fixed things with Sazh, who was always a very understanding guy in himself and had always respected Lightning in a way. Fixing things with Snow were a bit tough, but eventually she got the message through to him. There was only one person left in her group of people that she had left to talk to. That person was Hope.

For the first time in her life, she was terrified. Not because she thought Hope had turned into a psychopathic killer bent on ruling Pulse, but because she had likely hurt him the most. It didn't help that when she asked Serah how Hope had been doing, she informed her that he'd been getting along, but has been in a depressed state for a while now.

Lightning could only sigh as she strode into her bathroom for a shower before she decided that it would be time to go to bed. She stripped off her sticky uniform before turning the knob in her shower and stepping into the much appreciated barrage of warm water.

Lightning hadn't changed too much over the years. The only noticeable differences in her appearance were the small increase in height and her slightly longer hair. If it weren't for the fact that her hair was pink, she could've sworn she'd be considered "emo".

After giving herself a thorough scrubbing, she flicked the water off, stepped out, and toweled herself down before dressing in her usual sleep attire. She nearly groaned as she lay on her bed, the soreness of working countless hours for days on end finally setting in.

All she could do was think about what was going to happen tomorrow. What would she say to Hope? How would he react? Does he hate her now?

She shooed the thoughts away before eventually drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Hope woke to the sound of his alarm going off. Looking over to his clock, he silently cursed and turned the alarm off. It was seven in the morning. _'Damn, I haven't woken up this early in years´_. Hope usually wouldn't even budge to get out of bed until eleven or even noon. This was usually the result of staying out late because of his ventures with Snow, or just plain not being able to sleep until one or two o'clock at night.

Hope slowly dragged himself into his kitchen, where he pulled a breakfast burrito out of his fridge and heated it up with a light fire spell.

Wait. Fire spell?

Oh. Right…

Hope had discovered that he had regained a small portion of his magical capabilities, despite no longer being a L'Cie. This happened because of all the time he spent out in the wilderness around the countless feral creatures wielding magic of their own, it seemed to seep into his body and become a part of him. It scared the shit out of him at first, but eventually he got used to it, and eventually even managed to find good uses for it.

He finished up his morning routine before eventually heading out for a walk, for the sake of killing time since he had nothing better to do until later.

It was right around eleven when it began raining. After a few text messages to Lightning, they had eventually agreed to meet at her house, since he was now stranded at Serah's and Snow's house until the rain subsided.

Snow plopped down on his couch near Hope. "So, Hope, you and sis make up yet?"

"Define 'make up', Snow" Hope retorted as he kept his eyes glued to the TV, which was currently showing the news.

"You know, like, actually talking, friendly gestures, maybe even holding ha—"He was promptly cut off by Serah smacking him in the back of the head.

"Snow! Don't be insensitive!" She snapped as Snow looked up at a very pissed off Serah Villiers.

"Sorry babe, I was just trying to help the poor kid out," Snow gave her an apologetic smile.

"I'm not a kid anymore Snow, YOU of all people should know that," Hope grumbled from his spot on the other side of the couch.

Serah gave Hope a big smile and softened her look. "Sorry for Snow, Hope, he's been a little loopy lately since I stuck him with watching Jade last night. She can be a handful sometimes,"

Hope flashed her a smile of his own. He knew she was telling the truth. He had experienced it firsthand. Little Jade had really grown on Hope, once calling him "Uncle Hope", which caused his face to turn a thousand shades of red, realizing that the only way for him to truly be her uncle was if he were to marry Lightning somewhere down the line.

"So, when exactly are you meeting up with Lightning again?" Serah asked, shooting Hope a questioning look.

"She said right around three was fine," Hope replied flatly.

"Cheer up Hope! I don't know why you're all down in the dumps now, she's trying to fix everything, she really is! Give her a chance. For me? Please?"

Hope couldn't help but laugh at Serah's antics. She had put her hands together, held them up near her face, and stuck out her bottom lip. Although, he could easily see she was laughing at herself in the inside.

"Okay, okay, I will!" Hope chuckled a little more, "But only because you insist,"

"Thank you, Hope, you won't regret it! I promise." Serah grinned at him then grinned at Snow. "I had to convince Snow a lot just to get him to trust her again, too. Everything worked out in the end though." She finished as she sat down next to Snow and nestled into him.

"Alright, if you say so Serah."

Hope glanced over at the clock nearby. It was two thirty and the rain had gone away for the most part. It was only a ten minute walk over to Lightning's, but still, the anxiety was eating away at him.

Hope eventually stood, thanked Snow and Serah for allowing him to stay, and left for Lightning's house. He figured that if he walked a bit slowly, he would show up right around three.

'_I really hope that Serah's right. That Lightning really is trying to fix everything. There's a lot we have to talk about, and I sure as hell ain't going to let her off the hook easy.'_

Hope eventually found himself standing right outside of Lightning's house. It was actually only two fifty, but he was sure that she was back by now, and only picked three just to give him a general time.

Hope shook his head clear of any thoughts he had and steeled his eyes. If he was going to do this, he was going to do it now. He raised his hand up and pressed the small button next to the door.

_Ding dong!_

He immediately felt his palms begin to sweat and that nervous feeling bubble up into his stomach and in his chest. He held his breath as he heard the lock being undone and saw the door swing open.

"Hope?" Was the first thing he heard when the door opened. He had already exhaled the breath he was holding in and now found himself looking in the eyes of a familiar pink haired woman.

"Hey, Lightning." He choked out. His throat had seemingly closed up.

"You're a bit early… but that's okay, would you like to come in?" She gestured inside, at which he nodded and went inside.

Her house was simple, it wasn't huge, but it wasn't too small. After all, she lived by herself.

"Nice house you have here, Lightning," She inwardly flinched at the use of her full name. She was always so used to Hope calling her Light, not Lightning. He only ever called her Lightning when he was worried, or really pissed off. She was sure it was the latter.

"Thanks, I don't spend a whole lot of time here, so it's clean for the most part, I'm going to go finish getting ready, I'll be out as soon as I can, okay?" She said before quickly moving back into her room.

Hope sat awkwardly on her couch. He had never actually been inside of her house. It was very clean and well kept.

Three minutes later, Lightning eventually emerged from her room. She was sporting a simple dark blue shirt and a pair of black mid-thigh length shorts. Although it wasn't much to her, Hope thought she looked beautiful. He always had, but finally seeing her after so long had reminded him of why he bared the feelings he had for her.

Lightning could feel Hope's gaze on her, examining her, maybe even… dare say… checking her out? She felt the blood rush to her face, but hid her blush from Hope.

Lightning finished putting her shoes on and stood up, along with Hope, who also seemed to have moved his gaze from her body to her eyes.

"So, where exactly did you plan on going?" Hope asked as he continued to study her eyes.

"I don't know, do you have anywhere you might want to go?" She replied as the both walked out the door.

"Well… We could go to Lebreau's bar."

Lightning eyed him suspiciously and raised an eyebrow. Hope froze.

"What?"

"You drink?"

"Only in moderation, trust me, I'm no alcoholic."

Lightning shook her head. Serah hadn't told her that Hope occasionally drank. Sure, he was twenty now, he could take care of himself, but still, it worried her. People usually didn't drink unless something screwed up their life. She guessed that she was the cause of Hope's drinking habits.

The two jumped in and out of small talk as they walked to Lebreau's bar. They both walked in and took a seat at the bar, where Lebreau walked up, in the process of cleaning a beer mug from earlier.

"Well, well, well! Nice to see you again Lightning, been a while."

"Likewise," Lightning nodded her head to Lebreau.

"Well, what can I get you guys?"

"I'll just have water, Lebreau," Lightning said quickly.

"I'll have the usual," Hope casually replied as he turned his gaze from Lebreau over to Lightning.

Lightning was giving him another suspicious look, but he figured she was questioning whether or not he really wasn't some crazy alcoholic. He snickered a bit before replying to Lightning's silent question.

"I promise I don't drink a lot, if I do, I usually only have something light, I swear." Hope smiled.

Lightning could only look down. _'I was probably the reason he started drinking,'_ she thought with a sad look on her face. This didn't go unnoticed by Hope, who had begun to worry.

"What's wrong Lightning?"

Again with the whole name thing. It was killing her. She sure as hell wasn't going to break down in front of Hope though, not now.

"Hope…" She kept her head low so he couldn't see the pitiful look plastered on her face.

"Hm?"

"I… I was the reason you started drinking… wasn't I?"

Her voice was soft and cracked a bit. Almost as if she was going to cry. Crying and Lightning never seemed to go together, nor will they ever.

"Lightning I—"

"Please, I know you're mad at me, everyone was… I was even mad at myself… I was so engulfed in my work… I lost track of what was important in my life… who was important… I'm so sorry…" Lightning said in a mere whisper now, trying her best to stay composed. _'Stay strong damnit! No breaking down here, especially not here! You've got to spit it all out now Lightning!' _

"Lightning…"

"I'm not finished, Hope… Please let me finish…" Hope nodded and waited for her to recompose herself.

"I know, I really fucked up. I never wanted things to be this way… but I let my damned pride get in the way of that. Now look at me, Hope… I definitely can't say I've been happy over the past year. Actually… I've been miserable. I left everything I cared about behind without even knowing it. I left Serah, Snow, Sazh… and even you…"

"I hated myself for it, I still do. Everyone else was pretty pissed at me too… It took me weeks of apologizing to get Serah to forgive me… and Snow… He didn't even call me 'Sis' when he saw me…" Lightning took a deep breath.

"Now you won't even call me 'Light' anymore. It hurts, it really does Hope, and I know it's all my fault. I just wish there was a way for me to go back and fix it, but there isn't… So I'm going to do my best to try to fix this. I know you're mad at me, hell, I wouldn't blame you if you hated me and only agreed to this because of Serah, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry… not that saying sorry will make everything better."

At this point, Lightning had allowed a single tear to travel down her cheek. Right now, it was taking every bit of her will power not to burst into tears. After finishing her last statement, she had immediately looked down to her lap, where her hands were, just so that she could hide the single tear that slid down her cheek.

Hope wasn't doing too well, himself either. He felt a lump in his throat as bit his lip in an attempt to stay somewhat calm. He just wanted to pull her into a deep embrace and tell her everything's going to be okay. He wanted to run his hand through her beautiful pink hair and kiss her.

She had obviously been doing a lot of thinking over the past year. Hope had never seen the soldier and former L'Cie so vulnerable right now. Serah was right. She had indeed wanted to make things right. He admonished himself inwardly for not believing in Serah or Lightning for that matter. Despite being on the verge of tears, he steeled himself.

Lightning felt a strong, but soft hand push her chin upward, the hand presumably belonging to Hope. He had pushed her face up so she would be looking at him, instead of her lap. The tear still slid slowly down her face.

"Light, I forgive you… I—"

Hope was immediately cutoff by the bone crushing hug that he was put into by Lightning. He returned the hug, but then quickly found himself needing air.

"Light… Need… Air… Please…!" He pleaded through strained breaths.

Lightning blushed lightly and released him. "Sorry, Hope… Thank you so much."

Hope smiled before picking up the small glass of whiskey that Lebreau poured for him earlier. He held the glass high in front of her and smiled.

"A toast to a repaired friendship and to your birthday coming up in a week!" His grin only got wider as Lightning had picked up her own drink and tapped the glass against his.

Lightning smiled sadly. "I'm surprised you even remembered when my birthday was, Hope."

"Well… Serah would never let me forget it… That and no matter how mad I am at you; you're still my friend, Light. If it weren't for you, I'd be some huge Cie'th. Or dead. One of the two."

Lightning felt like a twenty ton weight had been lifted off of her back. She had finally fixed things between her and Hope. She now had her best friend back and she intended to keep it that way.

Afterwards, the two sat and talked about what had all happened over the past two years. Hope had explained that while, yes, she was part of the reason why he had started drinking, the main part of it was that his father had passed away about a year ago. Regardless, he reassured Lightning that he was not and would not become a binge drinker; not that Lightning would allow him to anyway.

Hope had, once again, been stopped from paying for the drinks they had ordered from Lebreau.

"It's on the house again, Hope, don't you worry. Consider it a celebration drink!" was all she said before she went on to serving the other men at the bar.

Hope had insisted on walking Lightning home. It wasn't that she couldn't defend herself, but that he wanted to spend a bit more time with her. This time spent with her really made him reconsider if he viewed her romantically or not. The answer he came to? He wasn't quite sure himself either.

Hope and Lightning eventually arrived at the doorstep of Lightning's house.

"Well… here we are. I'm glad we got everything straightened out Light. It really means a lot to me," Hope said before turning around and making to walk home.

Lightning narrowed her eyes before she grabbed Hope by the shoulder and turned him around. "What? No good night?" she said playfully as a small tinge of pink appeared on Hope's cheeks.

"Sorry… Um… Good night Light." Hope gave her a small grin, but could've sworn he was dreaming with what she did next.

Lightning had slowly leaned upward and lightly kissed his cheek. "Thank you Hope, today really meant a lot to me. I mean it."

Needless to say, both of their faces were completely red. Hope hadn't been shown that kind of affection since he was a kid. He definitely wasn't expecting it so soon, and definitely not from Lightning Farron, of all people.

Lightning giggled at the still confused Hope, who seemed to be struggling create an audible sentence.

Wait.

Lightning… **GIGGLING**?

This had to be a dream.

"Light, pinch me, I could've sworn I just heard you giggle…"

Lightning giggled and pinched him hard on the arm, surprised to find that it was much more toned than she expected.

"OW! Okay, maybe I'm not dreaming… but still, I'm glad everything worked out, Light. Thanks." Hope quickly pulled his best friend into a friendly hug before they went their separate ways.

'_With the day I just had, I'm definitely going to need a vacation after tomorrow… At least things are starting to look up for once'_

* * *

**I actually had a lot of fun writing this one! Thanks again to everyone who read and reviewed the first chapter! We're going to be getting into the thick of things here soon… :o**

**Please review and let me know what you guys thought of this chapter, it will really help me out a TON. :D**


	3. Adventure

**Hey guys! I'm back, sorry for the somewhat late update. I'm a busy guy sometimes. Anyway, now to reply to some reviews! :D**

**Also, regarding people who are nagging at me about OOCness, sorry! :3 It is AU, so expect a little bit of OOCness, also, remember, this is six years post-story line.**

**The Simplest of Hearts – Hehe, I'm a bit of a Lightning fanboy myself. I'm glad you liked it!**

**Fanfic Fan – Thank you~! That means a lot to me considering I've read just about every single Lightning x Hope fanfic on this site! C:**

**MegumiKira – OMG REALLY?! Where is it?! _ I hate typos! I'm such a Grammar Nazi sometimes. :P**

**KeeepSmiling – There's more from where that came from, grab a box of tissues, I already have mine.**

**Crowley – Thanks for the side note! I should've figured it was Toriyama, but lately it's been Nomura doing the announcements for FF versus-13.**

**Electronic-Star – Thank you! Hope's always been a softie for Light. Even in the actual game. :P**

**Now, without further delay, here is chapter 3! :3**

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! All characters and places belong to Square Enix!**

* * *

Lightning grunted as she jumped to avoid the vicious swipe of a **very **pissed off Gorgonopsid. She had opted to help run the post in Valis Media, which was now under attack by a pack of Gorgonopsid headed by a ferocious looking Uridimmu. This was by far the toughest pack of feral creatures Lightning has had to fight off, even with the help of her fellow soldiers. The Uridimmu in particular was making things rather difficult. It was faster and much stronger than a regular Gorgonopsid and had taken a liking to Lightning.

Lightning jumped again avoid the swipe of the Uridimmu this time. _I need to find an opening to attack it…_Lightning continued to parry the Uridimmu's blows until she found what seemed to be the perfect opening. She had already regained her footing and was now charging at the Uridimmu. Lightning cried out as she swung her Lionheart at the beast.

She felt the blade connect with her target and gave the slightest of smirks—which was immediately turned into a grimace of displeasure as she felt a searing pain rip through her calf. Lightning fell on her back as she looked up to see the culprit behind it. It was the Gorgonopsid from earlier.

Lightning narrowed her eyes. "Damn… To think I'd be taken down by one of these things…"

Lightning's mind raced, trying to think of ways to get away, or defend herself, or **something**. She went to grab her Lionheart, but gasped as she realized it was no longer with her. Instead it was lying on the ground roughly twenty feet from her. Getting up wasn't an option, the wound had already begun profusely dripping blood and her leg had essentially shut down.

All Lightning could do was shut her eyes and wait for the final blow. Wait for the end to her somewhat miserable life—which never came. Lightning's eyes shot open in surprise, almost wondering why she wasn't dead. Lightning's eyes became wide as she realized the Gorgonopsid was burnt to a crisp and was now laying lifelessly on the ground.

A familiar voice called out to her as she continued to stare at the dead animal. "You should really be more careful Light!"

Lightning looked up to see who it was, although she should've known since there's only one person on all of Pulse that would actually even call her 'Light'.

"Hope?" Lightning vigorously shook her head to make sure she wasn't dreaming. "What are you doing out here, Hope?"

Hope ran up to her and knelt down next to her. "I guess I forgot to tell you that I'm supposed to be exploring some of the Yaschas Massif for resources and stuff like that. Valis Media is on the way there, so I figured we'd swing by." Hope frowned as he inspected the gash on Lightning's right calf. "He got you pretty good, didn't he?"

Lightning gave Hope a pained look. "Yeah… I was outnumbered… I managed to get the tough one taken out, but the other one caught me off guard…"

"Well, you're lucky I showed up when I did, then!"

"Yeah, I owe you one, Hope, thanks." Lightning replied in her usual, stoic tone.

Hope scratched the back of his neck. "Don't sweat it, Light, I'm the one who owes you, or did you forget about when we were L'Cie already?"

"But Hope, you wer—"

"No, Light, you saved me back then, so I owe you one from back then. We'll call it even if that makes you feel any better."

All Lightning could do was give Hope a small smile. There was no winning an argument with him, especially when it came to their time as a L'Cie.

"Now then, how about we get you back to camp so we can get you patched up? You've lost a lot of blood…" Hope offered as he continued to inspect the wound on her leg. Lightning nodded and attempted to get up off of her place on the ground—but soon found herself right back in the same spot.

Lightning groaned in pain. "It hurts…"

Hope gave her a sympathetic look. "Well… I was going to try and save using my energy up on healing spells for later just in case Snow, Sazh, and I run into something nasty… Buuuuut I think this is definitely worth using on you."

Lightning soon felt a cool feeling wash over her calf, replacing the burning pain that was there once before. The feeling was oddly familiar. It was then she realized Hope was using a cure spell to heal her leg.

"Hope? How are you…?"

"Spending all this time out in the wilderness, especially around things like Leyak and Rangda, has somehow given me limited magical ability. Probably because of the aura that magic gives off. My body must've picked up on it. Found out I could use it about a year ago."

"Oh, I see…"

Lightning could easily feel her eyes droop. She was definitely tired after what she went through earlier. The battle had lasted at least an hour before Hope had showed up. She looked down at where her wound used to be. Much to her surprise, it was completely healed. All that remained was a red mark from where the gash used to be.

Lightning gasped as she felt herself being lifted off the ground. Hope had picked her up bridal style and was now carrying her back to the base camp.

"I don't need to be carried Hope…" She growled, although in the back of her mind, she was hoping he wouldn't put her down and would carry her all the way back to camp and maybe even stay there with her, and maybe once they got back she would thank him with a kiss and a—

Hold on. What?

'_Did I just seriously think that?'_

_Yes, you did, Lightning. _The voice sounded strangely similar to Serah's, maybe even her own.

'_Who the hell? Who are you?'_

_I'm you!_

'_You can't be me, I'm me.'_

_I'm the part of you that you've kept all bottled up for the past two years, Lightning. I'm the part of you that wishes to love and be loved._

'_I'm probably going crazy… First I nearly go down to a Gorgonopsid, I'm half asleep being carried by Hope Estheim back to base camp, and now I'm arguing with a voice that claims to be me.'_

_You're not going crazy Lightning. Things will get better for you. You just have to be the one to make them better._

'_Sure… tell me I'm not going crazy… even though I'm talking to myself. Yay.'_

The voice no longer replied as Lightning eventually fell asleep.

* * *

Lightning woke up roughly two hours later. She rubbed her temples as she felt a throbbing headache come on. After spending a minute trying to quell the headache, she took a moment to try to figure out where she was. Lightning figured she was in the infirmary back at Valis Media.

Lightning's heart fell at the sudden realization that Hope was not in the room. _'Hope probably dropped me off and left with Snow and Sazh…'_

She slowly pulled herself out of the bed she was in and retrieved her gunblade, which was propped up against a nearby table. She made her way for the door, but as she reached for the doorknob, her hand froze. She could hear what sounded to be Snow talking to one of the other soldiers.

Why was Snow still here? She figured that they would've left hours ago. Still, that didn't much matter to her, if Snow was still here, that meant Hope was still here.

She turned the knob, but didn't open the door. Lightning made an attempt to try to listen in on what Snow and the soldier were saying.

"So you're telling me that the path to the Yaschas Massif is being blocked off by a freakin' rockslide?" She could tell Snow was pissed.

"Yes, Mr. Villiers, I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do. We can't leave our post to clean up some rockslide, we'll be in a shit ton of trouble."

A third voice, which obviously belonged to Sazh spoke up. "So it's not anything that a chocobo could try to jump over?"

"No, we believe the only way the area will be accessible again will be through airship. The only available airships we have are being used for supply transportation purposes though, Mr. Katzroy. Please forgive us."

Lightning then decided to finally open the door to the infirmary and greet her friends.

"Well, well, well, looks like the soldier girl finally got out of bed," Sazh gave her his trademark smile and wave.

"Good to see you're okay, sis." Snow's expression softened at the sight of Lightning.

Lightning yawned, still somewhat tired from her small nap, "Thanks guys, where's Hope?"

"He's off trying to find a different area to explore since the damn Yaschas Massif is blocked off by some rockslide."

Lightning's eyes narrowed. "Wait, he's by himself?"

Snow threw his hands up in mock defense. "Whoa whoa, of course not! He took a couple of guys with him to help him fight off anything that mistakes him for a tasty treat!" Snow said with a playful grin on his face. "Besides, the guy can take care of himself now. He's not a kid anymore and now he has magic."

"Tsch, whatever." Lightning crossed her arms across her chest and turned her head away.

"Speak of the devil, he's back already, probably because he found somewhere else to go," Sazh said with a bit of enthusiasm.

Hope ran up to the four paused for a moment to catch his breath, placing his hands on his knees. "Hey guys, sorry that took so long."

Snow ruffled Hope's hair up, only to have him swat his hand away. "Don't sweat it Hope, where are we going now?"

"I found a small pathway opening in one of the cliff sides. Looks like we're going to need chocobos to get up there, but I have a feeling it may lead to the Haerii Archaeopolis. The council has been dying to find out where this place is. They seem to think it'll have some ancient artifacts and whatnot in it."

Sazh rubbed his chin and mumbled something about chocobos before snapping his fingers and rushing over to his bag nearby. The others gave him a confused look, wondering what exactly he was up to. Sazh returned eventually hold three sets of what appeared to by reins.

Snow blinked and gave Sazh an incredulous look. "Sazh, I hate to break it to you, but they probably don't have horses out on the Archylte Steppe…"

Sazh smirked at his blond haired friend before proudly holding up one of the reins.

"These, my friend, are no ordinary reins. They're called Gyashl Reins. Throw these around a feral chocobo, and bam! You've got yourself a form of transportation, so long as you don't run into a behemoth or something like that." Sazh said as he shoved a set of reins into Hope's hands, then into Snow's.

Hope gave Sazh a smile. He was always prepared, especially when it came to chocobos. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" He said as he turned to head down the path that lead to the Archylte Steppe.

"Wait!" The voice belonged to Lightning. Hope, along with Snow and Sazh, quickly turned around with a surprised look on his face. Lightning felt her face heat up, but steeled her eyes.

"I want to go with you guys."

Hope blinked at Lightning's sudden request. He hadn't expected her to want to go with. He figured that she'd want to stay back here at the camp.

"Are you sure, Light? We don't have enough Gyashl Reins, so you'd have to share a chocobo with someone."

"I'm fine with that."

Snow raised an eyebrow at his step-sister. "Why exactly do you want to go, anyway?"

'_Because I want to spend time with Hope'_

"Because I want to explore the steppe a little bit. I haven't been there since we were L'Cie."

'_Good excuse.'_

Hope paused for a moment, looking down and placing his hand on his chin. He then looked up and smiled at Lightning.

"Sure, you can go with, we might not get back until late tonight or maybe even tomorrow morning though."

"That's fine."

"Alright then! Let's get going!" Snow shouted out as the four turned and left the camp at Valis Media.

* * *

It didn't take them long before they had managed to round up some chocobo. Snow had found his first, actually, he called dibs on it. They found it right at the entrance of the Archylte Steppe. Hope had found his next, which was minding its own business, drinking from a small pond in the Central Expanse. Finally, Sazh found his. Unfortunately for the afro-haired man, it didn't want to go down without a fight, and it was now bucking the poor guy around like a cowboy riding a bull. Eventually, after many cuss-words and screaming, Sazh managed to calm the large yellow bird.

"You sure know how to pick 'em, Sazh!" Snow joked.

"Shut up! I doubt you would've even been able to cool the sucker down!"

The two argued back and forth for a bit while Hope and Lightning stared incredulously at the two's childish antics.

"And I thought Sazh coming with was a good thing…" Hope said from atop his chocobo.

Lightning shook her head and sighed. "We probably should get going,"

Hope nodded before looking down at Lightning. "So who are you going to ride with? Me or Sazh? I know for a fact you wouldn't ride with Snow. You'd soon rather punch him off and take the chocobo for yourself." Hope said with a chuckle.

Lightning paused for a second, then jumped up on the chocobo Hope was on, carefully positioning herself against Hope's body for support. Hope felt his face flush completely red when Lightning wrapped her arms around his torso.

'_It's just for support, Hope, don't get your hopes up' _Hope thought to himself as he attempted to shoo away impure thoughts.

"Well, if you two are done bickering, I think we're good to go now!" Hope declared from behind the two still-bickering adults.

Sazh and Snow shot each other glares before making to follow Lightning and Hope.

After a bit of traveling, they found themselves at the base of a cliff that seemed to have a smaller cliff that led to an opening in the cliff side.

"I'm pretty sure that if we jump up there with our chocobos and head down that path, we'll find our way to the Haerii Archaeopolis. There are lots of winding pathways and such, so stay close so you don't get lost." Hope advised as he readied his chocobo to jump.

"Hang on tight Light!" Hope cracked his reins, along with Snow and Sazh, causing the chocobos to jump. Hope felt as though Lightning's grip would crush him as they landed safely at the top of the cliff.

"Light… Need… Air…" Hope gasped for breath as Lightning loosened her grip around him.

Lightning felt her face heat up a bit, grateful that Hope wasn't able to see her blush. "Sorry about that Hope."

"It's alright, so is everyone set to go?" Hope questioned, looking back at Sazh and Snow, who replied with a simple nod.

With that, they were on their way. The pathway was narrow at some points, wider at others. They also came to a few forks in the pathways, but thanks to Hope's map, they were able to determine which ways to take.

Eventually, after much traveling through the pathways, they came to a medium sized clearing. It was a grassy area with a few patches of flowers lined near a small hill that was on the left. Nothing about it really seemed odd.

Hope took the time to take in the appearance of the area. Nothing really seemed off about it. There were no behemoths, no Gorgonopsids, not even a Svarog flying around in the sky. The only thing that looked odd to Hope was the five small, red flowers sticking out of the ground roughly forty meters ahead of them. Hope gave them a funny look, but shrugged them off and continued to inspect the area. The area was surrounded by tall cliffs and trees. Hope looked up to examine the tops of the trees, to determine if they had any sorts of fruits growing on them. Much to his disappointment, they were barren of any edible fruits. He began to scan his eyes around the tops of the cliffs, looking to see if there were any unfriendly winged beasts scouting them out.

Nothing. Nothing except for a large red flower that seemed to be blowing in the wind. Wait.

Red flower?

'_Oh shit…'_

Hope's eyes widened as he looked back at Sazh and Snow, who were still taking in the view.

"Guys, we need to get out of here, ASAP."

Snow gave Hope a confused look. "Why? I don't see anything that could attack us."

At that, Hope pointed up to the red flower, which now seemed to also have a pair of eyes under it.

"Oh… Shit." Snow whispered as the "red flower" walked up to the edge of the cliff.

Sazh's eyes widened as well. "What the hell is that?!" Sazh shrieked.

"That's a Neochu, and it isn't happy to see us." Hope answered with a frightened look on his face.

The five flowers that Hope had deduced were harmless, now popped out of the ground as Picohus, the offspring of a Neochu. The four watched, frozen in fear, as the Neochu jumped to the ground and landed in a loud bang.

Their chocobos were getting restless at the sight of the humongous creature, however they stayed their ground. Unfortunately, that didn't last for long.

The Neochu had noticed Hope, Snow, Sazh, and Lightning, and as Hope said earlier, it was not happy to see them. The beast opened its mouth and unleashed an earsplitting roar.

The chocobos had had it, for sure at this point. In the chaos of the moment, they kicked their respective riders off and ran.

Lightning heard a loud crack as she landed on the ground. She had fallen on her left arm and leg and had no doubt, broken one or the other. Or both. Today was just not her day.

At this point, she didn't care. Her focus was on finding where Hope was. Much to her surprise, Hope was now rushing over to her, worried look on his face.

"Light! Are you alright?"

Lightning nodded, but pointed at her left leg. "I think I broke it, I can't walk."

Hope sighed before propping her up on his back. "Can you hang on? We're gunna have to run, Snow was alright, but Sazh took a nasty bump on the head and is now unconscious."

Lightning nodded into his back before he picked her up and ran.

"Hope! Do you even know where you're going?" Lightning exclaimed from her spot on his back. They had gotten away from the clearing that the Neochu resided in, but now the whole area that they were in was completely unfamiliar to Hope.

"No… Snow has my bag, which has my map. Even then, it won't be any help if we don't know where we are. I only have areas that we've been to and areas that we've picked up on aerial reconnaissance charted on the map. I did see Snow run off this way with Sazh though."

"Alright…" Lightning said with a hint of worry in her voice.

They walked for a bit before Hope eventually caught up to Snow, who had Sazh propped up against a nearby rock.

"Thank God I found you Snow, Light, we found Snow… Light…?"

Hope turned his head a bit to try to see Lightning and found that she was fast asleep.

Snow frowned, unsure if Lightning was conscious or not. "Is she alright?"

Hope gave Snow a small smile before nodding to him. "Snow, we need to find a better place to camp out for the night." Hope suggested.

Snow nodded and picked Sazh up again.

The two traveled quietly for a distance before Hope spoke up.

"How're you holding up over there, Snow?"

Snow frowned. "I'm just dandy, we're lost out in the wilderness and sleeping beauty isn't exactly what I'd call lightweight."

Hope chuckled at his friend's predicament in having to carry Sazh. For Hope, on the other hand, Lightning was no problem to carry. She wasn't light, but she wasn't heavy either. Hope didn't really mind, he almost enjoyed it.

After much walking, they finally came up to a small clearing with a large palm tree covering over most of the top of the clearing.

Hope quickly scanned the area before nodding to himself. "Here should be fine, we should be able to set up camp here." He said as he gently propped Lightning up against the palm tree.

Snow looked to his friend and nodded before slowly laying Sazh down on the ground. Snow soon found himself chuckling at the position they were in now, lost in the wilderness on limited supplies and with two injured people.

"What's so funny Snow?"

"Serah's gunna kill me when we get back."

"Yeah, you and me, buddy."

The two simply laughed.

* * *

**Phew! That one took me a while to write, but I hope you guys enjoyed!**

**Please review and let me know how I'm doing! :3**


	4. Play Along

**Minasan konnichi wa! (- That means Hello everyone) I just finished watching Kaichou wa Maid-sama and I've been in the whole Japanese thing, even speaking in what little Japanese I know :P**

**If you like romance and comedy put together in one, then you should check out Kaichou wa Maid-sama.**

**Anyway, I'm getting ready to start school and once I do, it's going to be hell trying to balance out my school, work, and writing. Fear not! I won't abandon this story. I hate when people abandon stories and leave their readers hanging. Anyway, now to reply to some reviews _ **

**Tager96 – Of course there was no real Hope x Lightning in the game, the kid's 14 and she's 21. That'd be kinda pedoish of Squeenix. :P**

**Haikairi – You lazy bum, log in! Just kidding, I'm glad you enjoyed, and I'm glad I didn't get bashed for putting in the Lightning giggling part, I was kinda skeptical at first because I thought people would immediately go "OOC! FIND THE WRITER AND KILL IT WITH FIRE!" Also, remember, Hope drinking alcohol at age 20 shouldn't really come off as weird, especially if you go back and read through his past.**

**Fanfic Fan – Thank you~~! I'm trying to ease things in a bit. I figured people would get confused, which I'm sure someone did, but I tried my best to keep things explained as clearly as possible. Also, I try to reply to everyone that reviews and gives me some sort of relevant feedback. (:**

**Crowley – After going back and popping my Final Fantasy 13 disk into my PS3, I found that it is actually spelt l'Cie, with the C capitalized. I've been a bit out of the loop with versus lately since I started working again. Please bear with me here :P**

**The Light to all Fears – I'm sure Lightning would rather him continue to call her Light. I've toyed at the idea of it, but never really thought about putting it in.**

**The Simplest of Hearts – She's going to be a paraplegic by the end of the fic at this rate! :P Just kidding!**

**WildFyreKurayami – Thanks :3 If you have any questions about the story line, then you know what to do :3**

**Xx-the 99th-xX – Hehe, it's no fun if I get them together in the 2****nd**** chapter, now is it?**

**Thanks to all who reviewed and all who have stuck with me on this story! You guys are part of my motivation to write, thank you for the support!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything! It all belongs to Square Enix and stuff… :D**

* * *

Lightning finally awoke in a daze. The first thing she became aware of was that she was propped up against something rather rough. The second thing she became aware of was Hope and Snow sitting next to what appeared to be a camp fire. She made an attempt to stand up and walk over to them, finally aware of what their situation is for the most part, but a sharp pain in her leg immediately ended all thoughts of walking for her.

She gave a small groan, but was determined to make her way over to her companions. Even if it was rather unbecoming of her, if she had to, she would crawl over to them. Unfortunately (Or fortunately?) for her, Hope had taken notice to the fact that she was now awake.

"Light! Don't try to walk! You're still hurt." He said, worried look on his face.

"I'll be fine, Hope. Don't worry about me. Where's Sazh?"

Hope pointed over to her left at where Sazh was laying.

"Is he okay?" She asked Hope, her face now with a worried look of its own.

Hope nodded. "He's just got a concussion; he hit his head pretty hard. From the looks of it, you're the most injured of us all. Snow and I only suffered a few bruises." He paused for a second, saddened look on his face. "But right now, that's the least of our worries. We're lost out on one of the side paths of the Archylte Steppe, we only have enough supplies to last us for two days, and chances are, there are a lot of feral creatures in this region that would like to roast us."

Snow stood up, causing the two to give him a curious look. It didn't take long before a distinct grumble of a stomach was heard.

Snow scratched the back of his neck and gave a light chuckle.

"I'm gunna go look for some food. I'm sure there are some melon trees in the area. We found some last time we were here." Snow explained.

Hope nodded to him in understanding before Snow took off in search for food. Hope then turned his attention to Lightning, who was still propped up against the tree from earlier. Hope stood up from his spot next to the fire and wandered over next to Lightning. He then sat down next to her, still a worried look plastered on his face.

"How're you feeling? Is your leg okay?"

Lightning gave him a weak smile. It made her heart flutter whenever Hope did something like this. He was always like this with her, even when they were l'Cie. Hope replied with a small sigh of relief.

"I don't think I can heal your leg… I can only heal visible wounds…"

Lightning shook her head. "It's okay, Hope, we'll just have to get back to New Bodhum as soon as we can."

It was now Hope's turn to shake his head, earning a questioning look from Lightning, to which he sighed.

"The problem with getting back is that we don't know how to. On top of that, both you and Sazh are injured." Hope said.

Lightning's face fell. "I'm sorry… we'd be able to start looking for a way back if it weren't for my stupid leg." She said with a sad look on her face.

Lightning gave a quiet gasp when Hope lightly placed his arm around her shoulder, most likely to comfort her. Normally she would be against any sort of physical contact like this, but this was an exception, and she welcomed the comfort of Hope. Hope turned and looked to her with a confident look in his eyes.

"Don't worry about it, Lightning, you couldn't help it. I mean… I could try to heal your leg if you want me to…"

Lightning's eyes lit up. "Y-you think you can heal it?"

Hope smiled and nodded. "I can try. It'll take a lot of energy, but if it means taking the pain away from you, then it's worth it." Hope's eyes widened slightly at the realization of what he just said and slightly turned his face away from Lightning in order to hide his blush. Unbeknownst to him, Lightning's face was even redder than his.

Hope shook away any remaining thoughts before placing his hands over her left leg. A greenish glow began emitting from his hands in an attempt to heal the broken bone in her leg. Sweat began dripping down his forehead as he put more of his energy into the spell. Soon, he even began panting and gasping, however he still held a determined demeanor in his eyes.

"Hope! Please don't hurt yourself! I don't want you to hurt yourself too! What if my leg doesn't heal and you end up hurting yourself… Then we'll have three injured people!" Lightning pleaded, a worried on her face.

Hope shook his head and continued to pump magic into her leg. Lightning continued to watch him, not realizing that the pain in her leg was slowly fading away.

Lightning gasped as Hope gave a small cough before the green glow emitting from his hand faded away. Upon realizing that even though he stopped using his healing magic, her leg felt as good as new, her eyes widened in disbelief.

Her eyes were now fixed on the only person she had thought about for the past three days. The person she had blatantly ignored for two straight years. The person she had caused a tremendous amount of pain to. Despite all of that, he still pushed to make her happy. He pushed himself to make sure she would be alright. To make sure she wouldn't feel like a burden. Her heart raced as Hope looked up at her. Despite his obvious exhaustion, his eyes still held that same sparkle they always held.

"Lightning… did it… work…?" He wheezed in between pants.

Lightning could feel the tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she gave him a small nod.

Hope gave a relieved sigh before closing his eyes. "Good… because I'm beat…" He said as he lie his head down on her lap and promptly fell asleep.

Lightning watched him with caring eyes as she absent mindedly ran her hand through his silver locks. Her heart was still racing and it felt like her stomach was doing jumping jacks into her chest.

'_What is this strange feeling…?'_

_It's love, Lightning._

Her eyes widened at the voice. She immediately recognized it as the voice from earlier when she was being carried back to Valis Media by Hope.

'_What do you mean by love?'_

_I mean it's love, Lightning! You love him. He loves you. There's no denying it anymore. Your heart pretty much explodes when you even get close to him and he just pretty much put every ounce of energy he had left into healing your __**broken**__ leg, even after he said he probably wouldn't be able to heal it._

'_Is this… love?'_

_Yes, Lightning, it's love. Love is where you feel needed and where you are needed. Hope needs you. You're strong. I know you are. But on the inside, you're just as insecure as everyone else. You're just as human as everyone else._

'_I understand… I think…'_

_Good, now make sure you let him know how you feel before it's too late. This is the last time we'll be able to speak, hopefully._

'_Hopefully?'_

_Yes, because if I can no longer speak to you, that means you're loved and giving love. It means, you no longer feel despair or pain because of heartbreak._

'_I see… Well… Then I guess this is farewell.'_

_Farewell, Lightning._

* * *

Lightning blinked as she realized she was now back to reality. Hope was still lying on her lap, light puffs of breath emitting from him as he lightly stirred in his sleep. Lightning could only sigh. It wasn't a sigh of sadness or irritation, but a loving sigh. A sigh that said she wished he were awake. Awake so that she can finally get what she had in mind off of her chest. Who knew how many more moments alone they would have, especially once they make it back to New Bodhum.

The sound of footsteps immediately alarmed her as she grudgingly lowered Hope's head gently to the ground, trying not to wake him from his much needed (and earned) slumber. She stood up, feeling completely revitalized, and drew her Lionheart. She prepared to lunge at whatever unfortunate creature had managed to wander into their campgrounds, ready to curse it for interrupting **her** time with Hope (despite the fact that Sazh was lying on the ground not to far away from them, but he was still unconscious anyway).

Lightning sweatdropped when she caught sight of Snow, who had four rather large watermelons in his hands.

Snow had also caught sight of Lightning and realized she had her weapon drawn. His first thought of action was to run. Run as far away as he could to avoid the wrath of Lightning. That thought was squashed by the second thought that told him that she shouldn't even be able to stand up because of her leg. That thought was followed up by the thought that she **thought** that he was an enemy at first and came prepared. That was Lightning after all…

Snow dropped the watermelons on the ground before awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "Sorry if I startled you, Sis," He then raised his eyebrow to Hope, who was still passed out. "What's up with Hope?"

Lightning gingerly rubbed her arm and looked to Hope. "He healed my leg… He used up all his energy though…"

Snow's eyes widened. "He managed to heal your leg? He told me that he could only heal visible wounds! There's no way…" Snow trailed off, still thinking about all of the possible ways Hope could've possibly healed her leg. It wasn't like they carried potions, since they were expensive and hard to come by now.

Lightning shook her head. "He did… As you can see, I'm standing up right now… I-I can fight now. Hope has always been able to pull off the impossible, even if the odds are against him…"

'_The impossible… Like winning over my heart.' _She added in her head.

Snow gave a hearty chuckle. "Well I guess as long as you're all patched up and he can still walk, we're in good shape." He said before walking his bag and rummaging around in it. After a bit of mumbling and maybe even a curse word, Snow finally produced an odd looking item. It looked like a simple piece of square fabric, but upon laying it on the ground and tugging a small string attached to it, it expanded into a small tent.

Lightning's eyes widened at the sight. The military never gave them anything like that. Ever since they had lost just about every bit of advanced technology they had, they were forced to start from scratch. Not to mention that some of their top scientists were made into Cie'th while they were still up on Eden. She looked to Snow and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"It's something Maqui put together for us. It's really helpful when we go on trips that require multiple days to finish. He made three, one for each of us, but Sazh's bag was attached to one of those chocobos we were riding earlier. It's gone now, so we only have two tents." He explained as he popped up the second tent, which was in Hope's bag.

Lightning nodded to him before walking over to Hope and gently picking him up. She gracefully (well, for Lightning it was graceful) walked into the tent, Hope still in her arms, and gently lay him down on the soft fabric.

Snow, who was still standing outside of the tent, raised an eyebrow to the pink haired soldier as she emerged from the tent.

"There's only enough room for two people in each tent," He paused for a second before a mischievous grin made its way to his face. "But I'll assume you'll want to share the tent with Hope."

_Thud_

Lightning smacked him on the back of the head and he landed hard on the ground, face first. Despite that, her face was red enough to challenge that of a tomato.

"Pervert…" She mumbled as she went and sat back down by the fire. She heard Snow give yet another hearty laugh, despite still being lodged in the ground from the powerful hit he received from his sister-in-law.

A small groan was heard from her right. It belonged to Sazh, who probably had an awful headache.

The afro man slowly sat up, attempting to avoid worsening his already painful headache.

"Damn it, what the hell happened and where the hell am I?" He questioned in a groggy voice.

Snow gave a forced laugh before scratching the back of his head again. "Well, Sazh, it's a long story…"

* * *

"So you mean to tell me that we're LOST out in the wilderness with only two days of supplies and even Hope doesn't know where we're at?!"

Sazh's face now bore a part terrified, part frustrated, part sad expression. It was now nighttime and according to Hope, who was now awake, it was right around 10 o'clock.

Hope still held a serious expression as he continued to explain the situation to Sazh and what the plan of action was. Their plan was to move during the day, in order to avoid any unwanted encounters with the critters that wander the Steppe during the night hours, and camp over night. Hope had also recommended rationing their supplies, such as water and food. He had determined that if they're careful about how they use their supplies, or if they find a source of water, they could last for a day or two longer. They had also agreed, much to Snow's discontent, to have someone keep watch during the night. Hope explained that while at night, the monsters in the area usually aren't as active, but the monsters that are active at night are quite vicious and wouldn't hesitate to attack them in their sleep.

Snow had volunteered to stand guard first, seeing as he just wanted to get it over with. His shift ended without a hitch, and it was now Hope's turn to keep watch.

Hope now sat, propped up against the tree from earlier, uninterestingly staring at the fire. Needless to say, he was rather bored.

'_Now I know why Snow wanted to be first…'_

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard some light rustling nearby. However, he immediately relaxed as he realized it was coming from the tent that Lightning was staying in. What he didn't expect was for said person to emerge from the tent.

"Light? What's wrong? Can't sleep?" He said with a concerned look.

Lightning shook her head. "Not really, no… You mind if I… uhm… join you?" She asked, thankful for the darkness so that she could hide the small tinge of pink on her cheeks.

Hope gave her a smile before scooting over, patting the ground next to him. Lightning happily obliged to the gesture and sat down next to him.

They sat quietly for what seemed to be an eternity, Lightning subtly fidgeting, obviously nervous about something. Hope eventually noticed the fidgeting, though.

"Light, you okay? You seem a bit… uncomfortable."

The sudden question sort of startled her. She certainly wasn't expecting him to ask her about it, and she certainly wasn't going to just bust out and say "Hope, I love you!"

Although, it was an option.

"I'm fine Hope." She said a little too sharply than she meant.

Hope gave her a slightly hurt look, but decided it would be best not say anything else.

"Hope… Thank you…" She murmured.

Hope's eyes widened at her words. "Thanks for what?"

"For everything, you idiot…" She quietly said as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Light—"He was cut off by her when she gently placed her finger over his lips in order to shush him.

"I'm not finished… If it weren't for you… I would've gone on as a l'Cie in despair. I would've likely wallowed in my own self-pity if it weren't for you. You showed me that I need to be strong for Serah… Then… You go and save my life twice in one day. Then go and complete the improbable of healing my leg… I've always tried to be strong for everyone, but you always seem to find a way to get under my armor and make me feel weak…"

"Sorry Light I—"He was once again shushed by her finger.

"Believe it or not, Hope… I like it when you do that. When you get under my armor and make me feel weak. Because then, I actually feel like a normal human. Not like some super soldier only made to kill and be killed… That's not what I want, Hope. I don't want to be that super soldier. I just want to be me…" Lightning paused for a moment before looking straight up into Hope's eyes. Her cerulean eyes meeting his emerald eyes. "Hope… I… Asked myself this question earlier… And now I'm going to ask you… If I tell you I'm strong, will you play along? Or will you see I'm as insecure as everyone else?"

Hope's eyes went wide, his brain still processing what Lightning had just said. He didn't have much time to say anything before he felt a pair of lips crash into his.

Finally realizing what was happening, Hope finally closed his eyes and kissed Lightning back. She kissed him fervently, passionately, lovingly. Even though she hadn't quite told him she loved him, she was pretty damn sure by now that she did, in fact, love Hope Estheim. That little voice in the back of her head told her to tell him now. However, the soldier part that was still left in her told her to wait until they returned. Saying something like that might cause them to become distracted and may cause their emotions to get in the way of making logical decisions.

Unfortunately for her, even she agreed with the logic of the idea.

After a kiss that seemed to last forever, the two finally broke the kiss, gasping for air. Both of their faces were flushed.

"Light, I—"He was once again cut off by her placing her finger over his lips.

"Please, Hope… Let me have this moment…" She whispered, loud enough for him to hear, before snuggling up into his chest.

Hope silently nodded before wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close.

She was asleep in almost no time, still snuggled against Hope. Hope brought his free arm and gently caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers.

"I love you, Claire." He whispered, almost inaudible.

A small smile appeared on her face, however, she still slept.

* * *

**Hey guys! Sorry for the late update, school started back up and things got CRAZEH. I'm sure as you guys may know if you read my profile recently, I'm currently working on a bunch of one-shots for various animes and games. Expect at least one of them to be up by the end of the month. The Elfen Lied story may or may not be a chapter story, I'll have to see what kind of feedback I get initially.**

**Regardless of that, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**Pwease review! :3 They're much appreciated.**


	5. Return

**Hey everyone! I'm back, sorry again about the delay on the update. I'm also working on posting a bunch of one-shots from other games and animes, so feel free to check those out too. :3**

**Aside from that, not very many people reviewed last chapter, but that's okay. Now to reply to the few that did reply. :D**

**bella. – Thank you! I will keep this going for maybe two or three more chapters.**

**Haikairi – Well it's about time, you lazy bum! Just kidding! I almost feel like I should put a warning in the summary about extensive fluff, but oh well.**

**Fanfic Fan – Fear not, my friend, I will finish this story. Since I'm back in school, I don't have as much free time as I used to, so therefore I can't write as often. I do hope that you guys bear with me on that. Other than that, thank you for your support!**

**MegumiKira – Why thank you! I feel terrible about the super late update though. Please bear with me!**

**Starlightsoxo – Thanks~! :3**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Final Fantasy XIII, I would've made Lightning and Hope get together in the game… but I don't own Final Fantasy XIII, it all belongs to Square Enix and company.**

* * *

The rest of the night went off without a hitch. Of course, there was the awkwardness that ensued when Sazh awoke for his shift to find Lightning cuddled up to Hope, but Lightning instantly squashed all of Sazh's perverted thoughts with a glare that probably could've made a behemoth king cower in fear.

After packing up their camp, the former l'Cie agreed to attempt to backtrack, despite the potential threat of running into the Neochu from earlier. They moved at a steady pace, Lightning heading the group, Hope in the middle, Snow and Sazh watching the rear. Of course, it hadn't taken long for Snow to notice that Sazh still looked like he had seen his life flash before his very eyes, obviously still in shock from this morning and still frightened by the glare that Lightning had given him.

"So… Sazh, what's got your feathers ruffled up, old man? Finally going senile?" Snow chided, trying to hold in a laugh.

"If anyone here is senile, it's you, muscle man. I just witnessed something earlier that I probably wasn't meant to see." Sazh retorted.

Snow placed a gloved hand on Sazh's shoulder. "And what, exactly, did you witness that you 'probably' weren't meant to see?"

Sazh's eyes locked on the backs of Hope and Lightning. The distance between the two had obviously gotten smaller.

Snow's eyes widened in realization before he burst into a fit of laughter.

"Don't tell me that you woke up and found those two doing the dirty dance! Hahaha!" Snow continued to laugh.

Sazh rubbed his temples in aggravation. "No, no, no! And would you keep it down! What if some crazed, blood thirsty, monster comes along and turns us into human stew?"

Snow quickly regained some of his composure so that he could get the real story out of Sazh.

Sazh gave a heavy sigh, his head still pounding from the concussion he received. "When I woke up this morning, I found them sitting up against that palm tree all cuddled up and stuff. Then the soldier-girl woke up and gave me this glare…" Sazh shuddered. "That glare… She probably could've burned holes through my head with that look." He finished, still recovering from reminiscing about the day's earlier events.

"So what if they're cuddled up, I say it's about damn time! Poor Hope has been going after Lightning for who knows how long, probably since we were l'Cie. I will admit, if it had happened while they were 7 years apart, it'd be a little weird, but Hope's 20 and Lightning's 23 and about to turn 24." Snow said, a small grin on his face.

Sazh gave his friend a curious look. "So you think they're official?" He questioned.

Snow shook his head, although hesitant. "Knowing Sis, she's probably still keeping her feelings from Hope. I could be wrong though, it's not like I know what went down last night."

Sazh sighed again. "We really shouldn't even worry about it, it's their business and their business alone. If they feel like we should know, then they'll tell us."

"Eh… I guess you're right… But if those two finally get together, then Serah might actually shut up about it." Snow smiled wryly remembering about how Serah would keep him up at night just talking about all of the possibilities the two people at hand had with each other.

Their conversation was unable to continue any farther as a screech from up above immediately grabbed the attention of the group.

"It's a Zirnitra! We need to find cover! Now!" Lightning snapped, already running to take cover under an over-hanging Cliffside that would effectively block the winged-beast's line of sight on the group. She was joined by her comrades shortly after giving the command, much to her relief.

"Why do we have to hide? Why don't we just go beat the pulp out of that sucker? He can't be that strong." Snow whined with an irritated look on his face.

Hope narrowed his eyes. "Firstly, you guys can't use magic anymore and Sazh still has a concussion." He explained, equally irritated as Snow.

"Why don't you just heal Sazh's concussion? You healed Lightning, so I don't see why you can't heal Sazh." Snow said.

"I'm not going to risk that, if I do that, I could risk scrambling up his brain a bit, worst case scenario, he loses his memory. I'm not willing to take that kind of risk." Hope finished.

"Damn…" Snow said, defeated.

"Regardless, didn't we also agree not to engage in fights for the sake of conserving energy so that we can travel for longer periods of time?" Lightning added. Hope, Sazh, and Snow (although grudgingly) nodded.

"Then we should stay here for now until the Zirnitra leaves the area so that we can move safely." She said.

It was about 20 minutes, but the Zirnitra finally left the area, realizing that it wasn't going to be able to get to the former l'Cie. Once they no longer heard the earsplitting screech of the beast, they came out of hiding. They had agreed to pick up the pace of their travels, much to Sazh's discontent. They were now moving in the direction of what Hope believed to be the location where they first ran into the Neochu.

* * *

Hope had guessed it was right around 10 o'clock at night when they had stopped travelling. He was beginning to recognize some of the surroundings of the area they were in from when they had passed through the first time, running from the Neochu initially. They had agreed to stop in a rather small location, but it had enough space for them to deploy their tents. Once again, they also agreed to give out shifts of watching the camp, Snow would go first, Lightning second, Hope third, and Sazh last. Sazh had still avoided the topic of Hope and Lightning, still scared to death of Lightning.

Once again, Snow's shift had gone by easily, only having to fight off a small Leyak, which proved to be no trouble, to the point of not even waking the others.

Now it was Lightning's shift. She sat, quietly cleaning the blade of her gunblade. She had spent the whole day, although she wouldn't admit it, thinking about a certain silver-haired boy… no, man…

'_I kissed him… I actually kissed him… He didn't really say all that much to me today… Although… We spent all day travelling… But still… What if I made him feel awkward? What does he think of me now?'_

She sighed and returned to cleaning her beloved gunblade. When she heard a light rustle nearby, she nearly cut her own hand off attempting to jump up into a ready battle stance. When Hope emerged from his respective tent, she immediately retracted the gunblade, placing it back in its holster, and gave a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, Hope, needless to say, was surprised and rather frightened by Lightning's reaction.

Lightning blushed lightly, embarrassed by her reaction. "Sorry Hope… I wasn't paying attention, so I thought you were an enemy for a second." She explained, sitting back down.

"It's no big deal, I should've said something." Hope rubbed the back of his neck with a light chuckle, looking down at the ground.

"Can't sleep, Hope?" Lightning said with a hint of worry.

Hope blinked and looked at her. "Actually your shift is over Light. You must've lost track of the time. You can go to bed now."

Lightning shot Hope an incredulous look.

'_How long was I spaced out?'_

"Whatcha thinking about Light?"

She was promptly pulled out of her train of thought by Hope's question.

"It's nothing, Hope. I think I'll just go to bed now, I'm tired." She answered, getting up.

Hope gave her a small smile, but as she walked by, Hope gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a light embrace and kissed her forehead.

"Good night, Claire." He whispered into her ear, earning a shiver from the woman in his arms. Lightning's face was red enough to put a tomato to shame.

"Y-Yeah… G-Good night, Hope…" She stammered before gently breaking away from him and quietly slipping into the tent.

* * *

When the morning rolled around, the former l'Cie quickly packed up their camp and finally got moving. They had finally found familiar grounds and according to Hope, he estimated that it would be a few hours before they'd reach the camp at Valis Media. Their only challenge between the camp and their current location was any monsters that found them. None of them were really at one hundred percent due to lack of food and water. Sazh was still slightly incapacitated due to the concussion that he had received, so his aim wasn't nearly as spot on as it normally was with his Pleades Hi-Powers.

Hope's biggest worries were with running into the Neochu again. They had briefly discussed a plan of action if they were to run into the beast again. They would run. Run as fast as they possibly could. Fighting it would result in eminent death. Maybe if they all still had their abilities as l'Cie they would've tried to fight it off, but they don't.

They had been walking at a brisk pace for about two hours before Hope spoke up.

"We're getting close to that opening where we ran into that Neochu. There's a slight chance it will still be there, so be on guard." He told them, voice unwavering.

The other three simply nodded as they continued on their way. About thirty minutes later, they were able to make out what looked to be an opening, likely to the location where they had met the beast that had caused them so much trouble in the first place.

Upon reaching the area, Hope had obviously become tense, searching for any signs of the Neochu, his eyes rapidly scanning the area. Lightning had her weapon drawn, slowly moving forward, also scanning the area, while Snow and Sazh had followed suit. All four of them were quickly alarmed when a loud roar erupted through the air. It was nowhere near as loud as the roar they had heard when they had come there initially, but it didn't take a genius to know that whatever it was, it was close.

Lightning's eyes widened as she noticed a Cie'th carrying a monstrous sword jump from the top of a nearby cliff. "Hope! Watch out!"

Hope's eyes narrowed as he became aware of the Cie'th, jumping backward to parry the blow. "What the hell? What is that?" He gritted his teeth and drew his Nue.

"It looks like a type of Cie'th, probably one of the more powerful ones. From what I know, it looks like a Wladislaus. They're a sword wielding Cie'th, that's all I know." Lightning explained as quickly as she could before jumping back to avoid a blow from the Cie'th.

Hope looked back to Snow and Sazh, whom were already in a battle ready position. "Keep your distance as much as possible and try to avoid getting too injured!" He ordered before he turned back to the Cie'th.

The Cie'th's sword was monstrous, oddly resembling something that would've been used by swordsmen in the old age. There were six strange looking tentacle-like growths protruding from its back as well. The sword, however, gave off an evil looking aura, a dark essence emanating from the blade. There was no doubt that this Cie'th would be tough and that it would show no mercy.

The Cie'th lunged at Lightning, their blades clashing together with a loud clank. It was obvious that Lightning wasn't nearly as strong as the Cie'th, consequentially, she was thrown back. She flipped backwards and landed on her feet, sliding to a stop before silently cursing. Hope took advantage of the Cie'th being distracted by Lightning to cast some fire spells in an attempt to weaken it, while Sazh stood afar and shot volley after volley into the Cie'th. Snow was finding difficulty in attacking Cie'th, as every time he would move in for an attack, it would quickly jump back or counter with the hilt of its blade.

The only person that seemed to be doing any sort of significant damage to the Cie'th was Lightning. Hope's spells were seemingly ineffective, as the Cie'th would merely flinch when they struck it. Sazh's bullets would only bounce off of the Cie'th's hardened skin, dealing a small amount of damage, if any at all. Snow had managed to land a few good blows on the Cie'th that were somewhat effectual, but he was too slow to be able to land a large amount of blows in comparison to Lightning.

The battle raged on for a good hour, the former l'Cie exhausted, while the Cie'th showed no signs of letting up. Hope had sufficed to healing injuries instead of attacking, as it was obvious that his attacks wouldn't do any sort of damage. Snow was now only acting as a distraction for the Cie'th in order to create more openings for Lightning. Sazh's aim had began faltering, his shots no longer as precise as they normally are. Lightning seemed to be in the best shape of them all ironically enough. All of the training she had undergone was most certainly paying off, her endurance surpassing even the most hardened soldiers.

Lightning shouted as she swung Lionheart into the Cie'th, slicing away at its crystallized skin. The Cie'th seemed to roar in pain before throwing the sword it was currently wielding off to the side. The party watched with curiosity as a small barrier surrounded the Cie'th while it reached its hand into a red glow that was emitting from its chest. Their expressions became horrified as the Cie'th drew an even larger blade from its chest. The barrier dissipated and the Cie'th lunged at Lightning with more intensity and speed than before.

Lightning had little time to react as she barely blocked the fatal blow before jumping away to recover.

"What the hell! It got stronger?!" Snow shouted through gritted teeth.

"It would seem as that's the case… We have to end this battle soon!" Hope said with a worried tone.

Sazh spoke up next. "I don't know how much more the soldier-girl can take, even she's starting to look winded."

Hope's eyes flew to Lightning. She was panting and her movements were no longer quick, smooth, and precise, rather they were slow and inaccurate.

"Damnit… Hang in there Light…" Hope said under his breath before going to pour more healing magic into the person at hand in an effort to restore their energy.

Snow charged at the Cie'th in another attempt to create an opening for Lightning to strike. The Cie'th reacted quickly, taking the hilt of the blade and shoving it into Snow's abdomen, sending him flying into a tree. Hope quickly ran over to Snow, checking his vitals to reassure his friend was still with them. The stubborn man wouldn't die that easily, much to his relief. Hope turned at looked back to where Lightning and their opponent were. They were jumping back and forth, their blades clashing together with each chance they had to attack. It was then that Hope had realized something.

"Light! Aim for the glowing red glowing spot on its chest! I think that's what its weakness is!" Hope shouted.

"That's easier said than—Ugh—done, Hope!" She replied, blocking another vicious swing of the Cie'th's blade.

"I'll do what I can to distract it, Lightning! You worry about trying to hit that red glowing spot!" Hope yelled as he readied his Nue.

Hope then chucked the boomerang at the Cie'th, causing the Cie'th to turn its attention away from Lightning over to the boomerang for one split second.

That's all she needed though.

The Cie'th cried out in pain as Lightning jammed her blade deeper into the red glow in the Cie'th's chest, its blade now lying on the ground. When she removed the blade from the monster's chest, it fell limp to the ground before it began dissipating into nothing. Lightning fell to one knee in exhaustion, still having yet to sheath her weapon. Hope had rushed over to tend to Snow, who was beginning to regain consciousness.

After tending to everyone's wounds, Hope was exhausted even more than before. He had used up a large portion of his energy on Snow and Lightning. Sazh's injuries were extremely minimal, since he had spent most of the time keeping his distance and shooting his guns. Snow had offered to stop and rest, but Hope had pointed out that they have no water and that there were no sources of water nearby.

"Our best bet right now is to push forward and get to Valis Media. We won't be able to survive one more night like this, especially after that fight." Was what Hope said. Fortune struck upon them as much to their relief, there didn't seem to be any more creatures in the area. The rest of their journey to the exit of the area went smoothly. Almost _too_ smoothly, not that anyone was complaining. When they had reached the exit to the area, getting down off of the cliff was the interesting part. They had actually stood there at the edge of the cliff debating on whether or not they should jump down (more like Snow and Sazh arguing again while Lightning and Hope sat back and watched in amusement). It was twenty minutes later when Hope spoke up, saying that there were small areas on the cliff they could jump onto to get down safely. After many attempts to get Sazh to jump down, the four were finally reached the bottom.

"Finally! I never thought I'd be so happy to see those gigantic turtles wandering around the steppe!" Snow cheered as they started in the direction of the Valis Media camp.

"Yeah… You'll be happy to see them until you're standing next to one." Sazh grumbled, earning nods of approval from Hope and Lightning.

Snow meekly scratched the back of his neck. "Well, still, it's better than that damned Cie'th we fought back there. That thing was brutal as hell, my damn head is still pounding from that hit he gave me."

"Welcome to Club Concussion, Snow, nice to have you." Sazh remarked, earning a laugh from everyone else, before he soon joined in on the laughter.

They moved quickly so that they could reach the camp and get some much needed rest, Snow and Sazh often complaining about their pounding heads, although it was mainly Snow at this point, as Sazh's concussion wasn't nearly as bad as it was previously. Upon reaching the camp, there was obvious discontent, as they were all sure that they had noticed that their Lieutenant Lightning had gone missing. Chaos erupted when Lightning strode into the headquarters of the camp, the commanding officer at the camp announcing that she had returned. Much to Hope's discontent, she was immediately bombarded by men trying to hug her and praise her.

Of course, Hope's jealousy ultimately led him to come over to her, sling an arm around her, and pull her close.

"I'm sure Lightning appreciates all of the praise, fellas, but she and I are going to have a talk." Was all Hope said before quickly pulling her away from the bustling soldiers, a massive blush on her face.

"Hope? What the heck? What did you want to talk about?" She questioned, a curious look on her face.

Hope's face reddened as he realized he hadn't thought his plan through very well.

"W-well I-I uhh… I know how much you hate being around lots of people, s-so I figured I'd try to help you out…" He mumbled, trying to hide his own blush.

Lightning only smiled.

"You know, Estheim, if you wanted some alone time, you should've just said so." She teased.

Hope's jaw dropped, looking at Lightning in disbelief. She smirked before turning around heading for the door.

"You're such a pervert, Hope. I knew Snow had rubbed off on you a little. Get some sleep, Hope. We're heading back to New Bodhum tomorrow." She said, still a smirk on her face, as she exited the shack.

Hope slouched, still in disbelief, his mouth still wide open, eyes wide.

'_Seriously, what the hell just happened?'_

* * *

**I'm SOOOOOO SORRY about not updating in so long. I've been SUPER busy.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.**

**Please Review! :D**


	6. Gaia

**Hey guys! Once again, I'm super sorry for that late update, I'm going to try to keep up with updating my stories! I'm sorrryyyyyyyyyyyyy T^T**

**Anywaayyyy, to reply to reviews:**

**darkshifter – I've thought about it, but really, I haven't planned out enough action scenes where they can acquire any new abilities. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter though c:**

**devilmania67 – Thank you! I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far.**

**Fanfic Fan – Your continued reviews are much appreciated. I do my best to try to include some humor in my stories. Thanks for reading!**

**bella. – Thanks for reading! Thanks for not fretting over me not updating for such a long period of time.**

**0erbayunFang – Hehe, sorry! Here ya go. :D**

**Disclaimer: Sigh, still don't own Final Fantasy XIII, belongs to Square Enix and stuff… *goes and cries in a corner***

* * *

"Master… The blonde one seems to be the one in possession of the Gaia Stone…" The voice was raspy and rough, almost as if it were struggling to speak.

"I see… He heads for the Valis Media region… Round your minions… Retrieve the stone… Do not return without it." Another voice boomed. Menacing red eyes glowed from the direction of the voice.

"Very well, Master." The figure said before limping away from the dark enclave.

"Once we retrieve the Gaia Stone… We will finally be able to bring you back to your former glory… Lord Vercingetorix…" The voice cackled, echoing throughout.

* * *

Hope awoke to a thundering crash that echoed throughout the area. His first instinct was to run over to his Nue and prepare for battle. You could say it was a force of habit. He had done that during their l'Cie days when they had to camp out over night in areas full of rabid monsters. His second instinct? To check on his beloved Lightning Farron to make sure she was okay. Of course, she would already be up by now anyway.

He rushed outside to what seemed to be a warzone, bullets flying every which way at monstrous Cie'th. Hope's jaw dropped in horror at the sight before his eyes. He scanned the area with haste and located his friends, all of which were fighting off some of the monstrous Cie'th.

"What the hell is going on!?" Hope shouted in hopes of getting an answer.

"We don't know Mr. Estheim! We were woken up by this!" One of the soldiers informed him before going back to unloading ammunition into the Cie'th. Hope followed suit, casting several spells at the Cie'th. Before long, the Cie'th were eliminated without any casualties. The four former l'Cie now stood in the headquarters, baffled by the sudden Cie'th attack.

"I just don't understand! Cie'th have never been known to attack our camps before, especially not in such large numbers." Lightning grumbled, obviously still cranky from not getting a full nights' sleep.

"Maybe they were mad about us giving one of their buddies the smack down and decided to try to avenge them?" Sazh suggested.

Hope shook his head. "Generally Cie'th don't work in coordination with others. They tend to be lone wolves. Perhaps there's something in the camp that would draw them here?"

Lightning placed a thoughtful hand on her chin before shaking her head. "We've never had to deal with Cie'th here at Valis Media. Usually it's just gorgonopsids that wonder here from the steppe or flan that come out of the ravine."

"Maybe they're after Hope because he's still got his magical abilities?" Snow offered.

"Don't be ridiculous Snow, they never singled us out when we were l'Cie, why would they suddenly decide that they want to go after Hope solely because he has his magic?" Lightning scowled at the thought.

"I dunno, I just felt like I should try to contribute something to the conversation so that I don't look like an idiot." Snow informed her, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, well you already do look like an idiot, so no help there." Lightning mumbled, earning a chuckle from Sazh and Hope and a grumble from Snow.

"Does anyone else hear that humming noise…?" Hope questioned.

Everyone remained silent in an attempt to listen for it.

"Yeah… I hear it too…" Lightning said.

"I can hear it as well… Where is it coming from?" Sazh questioned.

They went silent again in order to try to pinpoint the noise's location. About one minute later, they were all looking at Snow.

"What? It's not me! My phone isn't ringing and other than that, all I have is this cool looking stone that I found out on the steppe!" Snow said while producing a stone that glowed a slightly green hue as well as a glyph inscribed in the stone that read 'Earth'.

Lightning's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates before snatching the stone from Snow. "Snow! What the hell?! Where did you find this?!" She snapped.

"O-oh, uhhh… I found it when I was out looking for food one night." Snow squeaked out, frightened of Lightning's now angry expression, one that he knows all too well.

"Hey Light, you know what it is? What is it?" Hope asked, curiously looking over her shoulder at the green glowing stone.

She nodded. "This is the Gaia Stone, Hope. It has the ability to personify, or bring to life, any entity that you wish. It was created long ago on Cocoon. It was meant to be used for military purposes, however, something happened and no one ever saw it again. To think it would've ended up on Pulse…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. So lemme get this straight. This little stone can bring dead stuff to life?" Sazh questioned, obviously still confused.

Lightning shook her head. "No, it can bring things such as statues and mannequins to life."

"So you think the Cie'th are after this Gaia Stone?" Hope inquired, serious look on his face.

"It's a possibility, although I don't see why they would need it. It's not like the stone can restore them back into humans or even l'Cie. It makes no sense." Lightning replied. There was a long silence before Sazh broke it.

"So, uhhhh… What do we do with the thing? Just chuck it into the ravine or something?"

"That would be too dangerous, if it ended up in the wrong hands, then we could be in some serious trouble." Lightning said, placing a hand on her hip.

"We'll have to think on it for now, until then, we need to return to New Bodhum. Serah is probably going to have Snow castrated when he gets home." Hope laughed as Snow sweatdropped at the thought of returning to his irate wife.

With that, Sazh, Snow, and Lightning all left. Well… Snow and Sazh left, Lightning was stopped short of the door by a strong pair of arms wrapping around her waist. Her face immediately flushed.

"Light, I want to talk to you. I've been meaning to." Hope whispered into her ear in a husky voice, sending shivers down her spine. She nodded her head, turned around, and pressed her lips to his in a passionate kiss. The kiss became more and more intense as they steadily moved towards the wall, Lightning backed into it. After a few more minutes, they finally broke for air, panting.

Hope brought his hands up to her cheek and gently ran his thumbs across her cheek, caressing them. "Lightning Farron… I love you… I love everything about you. I… I don't know what I would do without you… These past few days have made me realize that. Even if I were unsure about my feelings a few days ago… I'm sure about them now, because I know I want to be with you." He whispered, almost inaudibly.

"Hope I-… I love you too… I can't deny it anymore… This little voice in my head keeps telling me that this is what love is and that I need to accept it. I had no idea though, I'd never really loved anyone… Not like this at least. But now… Now I know what it feels like, and I couldn't ever see myself loving anyone else but you now… You always stuck by my side, even for those three years we spent apart. You didn't hate me, despite being hurt the most by it. I… Right now… I'm probably the luckiest woman alive right now… Because I have you, Hope." A single tear trailed down the pink-haired soldier's cheek. Hope gently wiped the tear away using his thumb before embracing her, burying his head in the crook of her neck.

"You know… Snow is going to tease us… right?" Hope quietly chuckled.

Lightning gave a small smile. "If he does, I'll just have to give him another concussion." She said with a chuckle of her own.

* * *

The four set out towards New Bodhum after a short period of time. Usually, getting to New Bodhum from Valis Media was a generally easy task… for an airship, however, they were all in use, so they went on foot. The pathways were monster free for the most part, and if there were any sort of monsters, they were harmless. The travel time was usually only a few hours from Valis Media, assuming no bumps in the road.

When they arrived in New Bodhum, Snow was immediately greeted with a fuming pink haired woman carrying a small infant on her shoulders, Sazh was immediately tackled by Dajh and their pet chocobo, who was all grown up. This left Hope and Lightning by themselves. Again.

Hope only chuckled as he watched Snow be dragged off by the still infuriated Mrs. Villiers.

"What's so funny? You don't think you'll ever be dragged off by the ear in your lifetime?" Lightning suggested, a sly grin on her face.

"What gave you that idea, Light?" Hope asked, dumbfounded.

At that, Lightning grabbed hold of Hope's ear and started tugging, the only thing being left for Hope to say being "Ow".

"We're going to be getting caught up on lost time. Understood?" Lightning stated, sternly. Hope's eyes went wide, his jaw going slack, as he slowly and quietly nodded his head.

Hope fell asleep a happy man that night.

* * *

"They call this place… New… Bodhum… Yes…? The Gaia Stone… it is here…" One voice rasped in a rough and deep voice.

"Indeed it is master… What shall we do with the blonde haired human?" A second voice said in a less deep voice.

The other voice chuckled evilly. "What else would we do? Kill him… and everyone here."

"Yes master. I shall ensure that their demises are slow and painful." The second voice replied.

"Do not disappoint me… Attacus."

* * *

"What do you mean Snow's gone?!" Lightning roared at the soldier, who had been unfortunately selected to break the news that Snow had disappeared.

"He's gone… We also have reason to believe that the Gaia Stone is gone too… Seeing as he kinda did have it…" The soldier squeaked out, terrified for his life.

Lightning rubbed her temples, attempting to halt the progress of the headache threatening to emerge. Snow had gone home to Serah and Jade almost immediately after they returned to New Bodhum, and knowing the bone-head, he wouldn't even think about just suddenly disappearing without telling anybody, especially Serah. Something was definitely wrong.

The Lieutenant gave a sigh before dismissing the soldier and immediately dialed up Hope and Sazh to inform them of the situation. They had agreed to meet up at Hope's house, since it was pretty centralized and the military HQ was in complete chaos from trying to pinpoint Snow's location.

"Where could Snow have gone off to? It's not like we left anything important out on the steppe from when we got lost." Sazh grumbled, obviously irritated.

"We can't just assume that Snow left of his own accord, if he even left at all. For all we know, he could be somewhere in the city and no one would even know. He's a big guy, but he can be sneaky… I think…" Hope offered, trying to calm down his peers.

"I think we can rule out a kidnapping, solely because the idiot is too strong for his own good for that." Lightning said.

There was a long silence before Hope's eyes lit up.

"Light! That stone! What if he wasn't kidnapped by a person… but a Cie'th? It's just a thought, but after seeing the Cie'th we ran into out on the steppe, and the coordinated Cie'th attack on Valis Media, for all we know, they could be intelligent and they could be after the Gaia Stone." Hope explained.

Lightning placed a solemn hand on her hip and pursed her lips. "I suppose it's a valid theory… but why would the Cie'th want the Gaia Stone?"

"Well… Back when I was still studying up on the Archylte Steppe's history, I found a small little tidbit about an ancient Cie'th lord of sorts. It was supposedly the most powerful Cie'th that had ever roamed Pulse, so powerful that it was impossible to kill, so the fal'Cie were forced to combine their abilities together and seal the Cie'th away inside of a statue. What if these Cie'th are trying to revive the Cie'th lord? You said it can bring statues and mannequins back to life, so it makes perfect since." Hope elucidated.

Sazh spoke up next. "So wait, lemme get this straight, these Cie'th guys kidnapped Snow so that they could get the Gaia Stone. Then they're gunna use the Gaia Stone to revive their ancient super Cie'th master so that they can rule all of Pulse."

"Yeah… It's just a guess, really. I'll have to do a little more research on it. I don't know why they would take Snow too. They could've just taken the Gaia Stone itself." Hope said, placing a thoughtful hand on his chin.

"Hope, do you remember where this statue is located? Perhaps I can help HQ with pinpointing where Snow might be." Lightning suggested.

"It's somewhere on the Archylte Steppe. That's all I know for right now. Until then, I'm going to go bust open the records and start looking for more on this. You and Sazh can take his airship and start doing some sweeps of the area. Let me know if you see anything out of the ordinary, alright?" Hope informed his comrades, earning a nod from the two before they all set off on their separate ways.

* * *

"What the hell do you want with me, huh?!" Snow's voice rang out through the darkness, echoing back to him.

"ANSWER ME, DAMN IT!" He shouted again, to no avail. It quickly became silent.

A sinister laugh overcame the silence.

"You, young one… You will witness the beginning to the end before reaching your demise…"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Snow roared, his hands shacked to a pair of hand cuffs on a rough and jagged wall.

There was no reply.

* * *

"So are you sure it's safe to be flying in Archylte Steppe airspace? You have to know that all of those winged beasts are going to mistake us for an afternoon snack." Sazh asked, worried look on his face.

"It's fine, if anything, they'll be more terrified of the airship than attracted to it." Lightning assured him, fastening her seatbelt.

Sazh turned back to prepping the airship. "Alright soldier girl, whatever you say."

With that, they took off. Their mission was essentially to scan the Archylte Steppe for anything that might look suspicious or out of the ordinary. They were also to mark the locations of any and all statues they spot. While they did this, Hope was back in New Bodhum researching more about the Gaia Stone and the ancient Cie'th.

About ten minutes passed and they had found nothing. Right then, Lightning's phone began ringing. She flipped the phone open and answered.

"Hello?"

"Light, it's Hope, I found a bit of info that might help. There's a high concentration of statues and ruins in the Haerii Archaeopolis, go figure. Also, in the Yaschas Massif, there's an old ruin there that you may want to check out. Make sure Sazh is careful maneuvering in the Massif. There are some wyvern in that area that would enjoy an airship for lunch."

"Alright Hope, thanks for the help. Call me if you find anything else."

"Of course, be careful, love you."

"Love you too."

With that, she snapped the phone shut and informed Sazh of Hope's findings. They first checked the Haerii Archaeopolis, seeing as it was easier to reach and much closer. The area was crawling with goblins and old Pulsework mecha, but there didn't appear to be anything suspicious there, other than a single statue, which looked anything but menacing.

It took roughly fifty minutes to maneuver their way to the ruins in the Yaschas Massif, but they managed.

"It's crawling with Cie'th… This has to be it… There's even an old abandoned temple looking place… " Sazh mumbled, amazed by the site.

Just then, Lightning's phone rang again, it was Hope. She flipped it open and answered.

"What'd you find, Hope?"

"Guys! I found out why they took Snow! You need to come back now!" Hope said frantically.

"Alright, alright, calm down, we'll be back shortly." Lightning replied before snapping her phone shut.

Sazh and Lightning returned with haste and met Hope up at his house, were he had a projection of the information he was researching up.

"So why did they take Snow?" Sazh questioned, wanting to finally find out why his friend has been targeted.

Hope pointed at the projection, it was an old document from when Psicom was still around. "Look here, it says 'The Gaia Stone is the entity of living materia. Upon using this power, you require a divine blessing, a gift that can only be received once, one cherished by all. This is the catalyst behind such a power'"

"Okay, but what's that supposed to mean?" Sazh said in complete confusion.

"It means they need a sacrifice, and Snow is their sacrifice!"

* * *

**Bum, bum, bum!**

**I'm sure you guys hate me by now for:**

**1. Not updating.**

**2. Not updating.**

**3. Not updating.**

**And**

**4. Cliffhangers.**

**I love doing that to you guys! :DDD Please reviewwwwwww!**


	7. Rescue

**Hey guys! I'm super super SUPER sorry for such a late update. A lot has happened in the past few months and I haven't had any time to myself. At all. ;~;**

**Also, I'd like to say that this is the LAST CHAPTER of Play Along! I've had a ton of fun writing it, even with all the ups and downs. Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed my story! :D**

**I'm super happy with all the reviews I'm getting, you guys are amazing. :3**

**darkshifter – Thanks :3 I liked writing the fluff scene. I felt like I was holding that back for waaay too long, so I finally threw it in there. As for whether or not I kill Snow, we'll just have to see what happens, will we? :D**

**JediMayukiDaAWESOME – I like your penname, it's definitely unique :3. Snow's a tough guy, or at least, he was for me when I played FF13, he can take a beating.**

**ChainzOfThePast – I didn't think I'd ever update it either, but I did, even if I did suffice for a shorter chapter… _**

**Haikairi – Writer's block is my worst enemy. I've conquered it several times, but it always comes back in a stronger form. GAAHHH.**

**Fanfic Fan – Ahh, my loyal reader/reviewer. I'm thrilled that you're so pleased with the chapter. The Gaia Stone was a little something that I made up, as Gaia literally means "personification of Earth". It was the name of a Greek goddess back in the ancient times. HISTORY LESSON! :DDD Also, Attacus and Vercingetorix are from the actual game, Final Fantasy 13. They're boss battles that require some serious time and strategy to defeat and can get really frustrating for anyone that's not prepared.**

**0erbayunFang – OMG CLIFFHANGER is right. I wish I could update as soon as I'd like to, but I'm a busy body, and as such, I don't have much free time :c.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own this. I really wish I did… Even just a little bit… Please…? T_T**

* * *

"What?!"

It was said almost in unison by Lightning and Sazh as their eyes grew wide.

"You heard me, those Cie'th are going to use Snow as a sacrifice to revive whatever ancient Cie'th lord is sealed away in those ruins. It all makes sense now, though. That stone isn't powerful enough in itself to revive anything whenever you want. Essentially, you must trade the life force of one thing, in this situation, Snow, in order to revive another." Hope explained, a serious tone to his voice.

"So what are we doing sitting around here all surprised?! We should be heading out to save that bonehead!" Sazh urged, worried look on his face.

"Well, it takes approximately 48 hours to completely finish the process of life transfer, according to these records, and Snow has been missing for about 20 hours, so we have roughly 28 hours, give or take." Hope said.

Lightning huffed. "We really shouldn't wait, Hope. Who knows what all could happen between now and then. I really don't want to take the risk, especially since there's only three of us. Who knows what we could run into?"

"Soldier-girl is right, that place has got to be crawling with tons of nasty lookin' Cie'th." Sazh chimed in, still looking quite nervous.

Hope sighed in defeat. "I guess you guys are right, but before we go, I want to swing by the tech lab." He said, getting up from his desk.

The three left Hope's house and made their way to the military HQ, where the tech lab resided. It was a side branch of the whole entire science facility part of the military HQ, which was headed by Hope for quite some time. After about a year, he handed the reins over to Maqui, who was much more suited for the field than Hope. The three former l'Cie made their way into the lab and was promptly greeted by the head scientist.

"Good afternoon, Director Estheim! What can I help you with?"

"Good afternoon, Whitfield. How many times do I have to tell you to just call me Hope? I'm not your director anymore." He playfully chided.

"Forgive me, Hope. It's a force of habit." He said as he scratched the back of his head.

"So, do you have those special manadrives yet?" Hope asked, immediately earning the attention of his two companions.

The scientist nodded and produced (with great pride) a pair of odd looking manadrives.

"These are only prototypes, but they're fully operational for the most part. Their ability is limited in comparison to what the real thing is going to be capable of, but these things are about as good as it gets." Whitfield said, pushing the glasses up on his nose.

Lightning took the manadrive in her hand and examined it. "What's so special about these? They just look like ordinary manadrives that look kinda weird."

Whitfield cleared his throat. "As you're probably already aware, the standard manadrive is capable of basic spells such as fire, water, thunder, aero, and so forth. However, these are capable of spells such as fira, watera, and thundara. The downside to these is that, unlike the old manadrives, these aren't capable of producing spells like protect and shell, as that's the trade-off for the increased power of the manadrives. The real versions will likely be able to cast such spells, but I am very far from discovering how to incorporate that into the manadrive without killing the hard drive."

Hope intervened before anyone else could say anything. "From what I understand, these aren't capable of healing spells either, correct?"

Whitfield's eyes lit up. "Actually, Mr. Estheim, they are capable of producing healing spells. Well… The only spell they can produce is cure, but I'm sure that's all you'll need, considering your abilities."

"So is not having buffing spells the **only** drawbacks of these manadrives?" Lightning asked, paranoid as always.

Whitfield shook his head before handing a manadrive to Lightning so that she could examine it herself. "Feel free to test drive it if you want." He said, gesturing toward the manadrive.

Lightning, eager to test out her new "toy", scampered off to the training grounds with the manadrive, Sazh and Hope following her lead. Just as the two arrived at the training grounds, as expected, Lightning was already at it. The very first spell she sent towards the poor training dummy was a thundara spell, a powerful one at that.

Lightning looked at Hope and smirked. "Your scientist buddy really outdid himself. I think I could have a little fun with this manadrive." She said before sending a monstrous fire ball at the training dummy.

Sazh chuckled before equipping the manadrive to himself. "Let's see what this old man is made of!" Sazh then casted a miniature tornado at the training dummy, effectively shredding what was left of the dummy. "Hell yeah!" Sazh cheered, throwing a fist into the air.

"Alright guys, I know you're having fun, but let's not forget our objective here. Snow's life is in danger and the longer we screw around here, the more his life will be in danger." Hope said.

Lightning and Sazh both nodded and the three made their way to the hanger, where an airship had already been prepped for the team. They boarded the ship with haste and immediately took off, en route to the ruins of the Yashas Massif. Sazh was piloting the airship, Lightning and Hope sat elsewhere in the ship, preparing themselves mentally for the rough battle ahead.

"Hey Light?" Hope broke the silence, looking at the pink haired soldier.

"What is it Hope?"

"You know… Chances are… We're going to fight Cie'th stronger than we've ever had to face, stronger than the one we fought back on the Archylte Steppe." He concluded, a sad look on his face. Lightning brought a comforting hand to his shoulder, gently rubbing it.

"Yeah… We probably will… But we'll make it through this together and save my bone-head step-brother while we're at it. Together." She nearly whispered, trying comfort Hope.

"I love you, Claire."

"I love you too, Hope."

* * *

It was about ten more minutes before they finally landed. There was no mistake that they had found the right place, the area was crawling with Cie'th. Most of them had either taken note of the airship and decided that it wasn't worth their time or just weren't up for a fight. Sazh had landed in the clearing below the ruins, for safety purposes, which meant a long trek up the stairs to the ruins. This trek also involved sniping the annoying flying Cie'th that pestered them with fire spells and ruin spells. The three seemed to appreciate the Cie'th attempting (emphasis on attempting) to roast them, as it took their minds off of the long journey up the stairs. When they reached the top of the stairs, things went from looking up, to looking very grim, very quickly.

Standing at the top of the stairs was a Cie'th that looked extremely familiar to the Cie'th from the Archylte Steppe, the only difference being color. This one was a much darker color, and its sword seemed to be radiating a dark glow.

"What the hell? I thought we stabbed this guy? What gives?" Sazh spoke up, shocked at the sight of the Cie'th. If things could get even more shocking, they would, and they did when the Cie'th was the next to speak up.

"I… Am… Attacus. You shall not travel any further, humans." The Cie'th spoke slowly and deliberately.

"And what happens if we do?" Lightning said, almost not putting it as a question.

"Then you shall not live any longer." Attacus said, pointing the gigantic sword at the soldier. Before Lightning could even react, Attacus lunged at Lightning. She barely managed to draw her gunblade and block as much of the blow that she could before being sent flying into a nearby pillar.

Hope immediately countered this with a powerful fira spell. Attacus deflected the fireball using his blade and charged at Hope. Hope rolled away from the Cie'th as he swung the blade and threw his arms out at the Cie'th, electricity cackling as thunder struck down on it, stunning it for only a few seconds, but not dealing any real damage to it.

"Damn it, this isn't going to work…" Hope mumbled under his breath. "Sazh! Cover me while I help Lightning!" He commanded, rushing over to where Lightning had crashed.

Sazh drew his trusty pistols and super charged his bullets before firing a barrage of shots towards the Cie'th. Attacus showed no signs of backing down as he continued his charge toward Sazh, readying its blade. Sazh jumped backwards just as the Cie'th brought the sword down on him, the sword only catching a small part of his left shoulder. Lightning had made a hasty recovery, kicking Attacus away from Sazh before he could follow up with another blow.

"Just what the hell are you?" Lightning growled, getting into a battle ready position.

Attacus chuckled, getting up from the ground. "I am Attacus, the Soulless. I would assume that you are the one who slew my minion, correct?"

"Yeah, what about it?" She sneered at Attacus, raising her gunblade.

"Impressive… But not good enough. You will fall and Lord Vercingetorix will rule again!"

Attacus charged at Lightning yet again. This time, being more prepared, she ducked out of the way, fire emitting from her finger tips as she counter attacked with fire spells. Sazh and Hope had combined together a pair of aero spells as well, a whirlwind sent in Attacus's direction as well. With one swipe of the blade, the spells were dissipated, Attacus standing there unharmed.

"W-what the hell…?" Sazh mumbled in utter disbelief.

Attacus cackled. "I can smell your fear. The only thing better would be the scent of your **blood**!"

"Damn you," Lightning growled, swinging her blade at Attacus. He easily dodged the attack and laughed again.

"Your pitiful efforts are nowhere near enough to best me, humans."

"That's just what you think!" Hope shouted before conjuring up a monstrous fireball and hurtling it at the Cie'th. Lightning and Sazh followed up with a series of quick thunder spells before Lightning charged at the Cie'th yet again. She shouted out as she brought her blade down on the stunned Attacus, catching the Cie'th's arm with the end of the blade. Attacus reeled back in surprise and pain before growling at the three.

"Not as invincible as you thought, are you?" Lightning smirked as she flipped backwards out of range of Attacus. Attacus only roared in fury as he charged at Lightning, blade raised in the air.

* * *

Snow groaned as he sat on the cold ground, his arms bound behind his back like how he had been when Fang had apprehended him after his fight with Shiva and Nix. He couldn't see much farther than three or four feet in front of him and the only sound he could really make out was the roars of Cie'th and the dripping of water.

"I hope Lightning and the others are okay… I'm sure as soon they noticed I was gone and sent out a mass search party." He muttered to nobody in particular.

He lifted his head when he heard the light pitter patter of footsteps nearby. He was able to make out a small light, probably from a lantern, but that was about it. The footsteps came closer and closer, louder and louder. Snow trembled in fear, knowing that his end was likely in the near future. He shut his eyes tight and waited… and waited… and waited a little more…

He opened his eyes in surprise to see a small lizard-like creature standing there. It held an old fashioned lantern in one hand and a small butcher's knife in the other. It was just as tall as Snow when Snow was sitting down and wore a brown robe. It also had beady yellow eyes.

"Psst. Hey little guy! You think you could get me a hand here?" Snow whispered.

The lizard creature only blinked at Snow before turning around and slowly waddling away. Snow's shoulders slumped at the sight of the creature waddling away.

"I suppose it was worth a try." His head drooped once again.

* * *

Lightning panted heavily as she landed on her feet, skidding backwards as she did. Sazh had already exhausted himself and was lying on the ground panting heavily. Hope remained on his feet, energy level depleted as well. Lightning threw her hands up, electricity cackling at her fingertips, and cast a thundara spell on Attacus. The three had discovered that lightning based spells had a tendency to stun Attacus, albeit temporarily. Lightning followed the spell up with a charge towards Attacus, gunblade raised high in the air. Attacus took his blade and deflected Lightning away from him, sending her gunblade flying away from her.

Hope had drawn his Nue, although mainly using it to enhance his spells a tad more. Hope began casting a barrage of spells towards the Cie'th, many of them being ineffective altogether, or only dealing a minor amount of damage. Attacus simply brushed the spells off and made his charge towards him. Hope raised his Nue up into a defensive position and braced for the impact of Attacus's blade. He felt it smash into the boomerang, the force sending him flying through the air.

Hope did the best he could to land on his feet, although it was a very rough landing. Hope shot a glance over to Sazh, who was unconscious, then to Lightning, who was also unconscious. His eyes widened when he saw Attacus begin trudging over to Lightning's motionless body, likely to finish his kill.

Hope rushed over to Lightning to defend her until she made a recovery.

"Boy… Do not get in my way. The girl will be my first kill." Attacus ordered.

Hope sneered at Attacus. "Like hell you're going to kill her."

Attacus chuckled. "Fair enough, I'll just kill both of you then." Attacus raised his blade high, ready to get the kill.

_Shit… I've failed you, Light… Please… Forgive me… I love you…_

Hope's eyes shut tight as he embraced Lightning's unconscious form, awaiting his demise at the hands of Attacus, the Soulless. His eyes shot open when he heard the thumping sound of metal going through skin. The only problem was, it wasn't his skin.

Standing there with a blade rammed into Attacus's chest was a small lizard-like creature. It held an old fashioned lantern in one hand and a butcher's knife in the other. It wore a small brown robe and had beady yellow eyes.

"What…? A Tonberry…?" Hope breathed, watching in awe as Attacus's body disintegrated into microscopic crystal shards. "But why…?"

The Tonberry slowly shook its lantern, causing a green aura to emit from it. Hope felt a cooling sensation wash through his body, his wounds closing up, his energy returning to him.

If things couldn't get any crazier, the Tonberry even spoke to him.

"Save… Pulse… Save… Guardian… Steppe…" It rasped before slowly turning and waddling away. Hope sat there in complete utter confusion as the little creature continued to waddle away. He then turned his head to Lightning, who had begun stirring.

"ATTACUS!" She had shot straight up, breathing heavily.

"Light, it's okay! He's gone… We need to wake Sazh up and find Snow." The two went over and woke Sazh, who reacted in a similar way, only more hysterically, and ran deeper into the ruins. The deeper they got into the ruins, the darker it became, almost to the point where it was pitch black. Hope, being the quick thinker of the group, did the obvious thing and used a weak fire spell to light up their path as they walked.

They continued farther until they reached a doorway. It didn't have a door in it, but there was a faint blue glow coming from the room.

"You think that's where Snow is?" Sazh mumbled.

"I sure do hope so." Hope muttered back.

The three continued into the room and gasped at what they saw. In the middle of the room, a gigantic crystallized cocoon-like object was floating over a ring of small Cie'th stones. In front of the cocoon was a small pedestal, and on the pedestal the Gaia Stone.

A loud voice boomed through the room. "Impressive! You have defeated Attacus! I should have known that he was too weak to carry out this plan." The three stared at the crystal in shock.

"W-who the hell are you…?" Hope breathed, still in utter complete confusion.

"I am Vercingetorix, the Doomherald."

"So you're the legendary Vercingetorix?" Lightning muttered. "Just how are you even talking to us right now?"

"I am an all-powerful entity, I have always been able to speak, even though I am sealed away in this accursed cocoon."

Lightning smirked. "Since you're able to speak, then I guess you could tell us where our friend is being hidden."

"And what makes you think I will do that?"

"Well, you're not coming out of that cocoon anytime soon, your servant buddy is crystal dust, we have the Gaia Stone, and chances are we're going to be the last people you talk to in a long time." Sazh said in one of those "as a matter of fact" tones.

The cocoon remained silent, only giving off a humming noise as it floated in the air.

"So I guess he's not going to tell us, is he?" Hope said weakly.

"We should split up and look for him." Lightning suggested.

"Or I could come to you guys!" A voice said.

Sazh, Lightning, and Hope all turned in surprise as Snow came running towards them, looking like he'd been through hell in back albeit.

"Snow, how did you find us?" Hope asked.

Snow opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. He then turned and looked in the direction he came from, where a faint glow was.

"Let's just say I had a little help." He said with a grin.

Lightning shook her head in disbelief. "Alright you knucklehead, let's get out of here and get you home before Serah dies of worry."

Everyone nodded and began making their way out of the ruins.

* * *

"Do you have any idea how worried I was Snow Villiers?! Jade was so worried about you too! She cried every night asking where you were!"

Snow sat on his bed listening to his wife chew him out. Hope and Lightning sat in the living room holding back laughter as they listened to Serah.

"I can only imagine the look on the big oaf's face right now!" Hope chuckled.

"I'm sure it's priceless, but I don't think he really cares that he's being chewed out. I think he's just glad to be alive. I would be." Lightning reasoned.

"I'm glad you're alive, Light…"

Lightning pressed a finger against his lips.

"You idiot, just shut up and kiss me."

"I love you, Light."

"I love you too, Hope."

_The End._


End file.
